When Chevy and the producers of The Apprentice decided to leverage the interweb’s hidden creative juices by letting people mix canned video clips of the Chevy Tahoe and generate the next big SUV commercial, they apparently misunderestimated the even greater collective disdain for SUVs. Now they’re facing a dilemma: Play host to dozens of (sometimes hilarious) anti-SUV ads, or censor them. To their credit, the negative ads have remained online, though Chevy isn’t providing an interface onto them — you’ll have to rely on Goog to dig them up.
A bunch of links at treehugger.com, like this gem: You live in the city, chump, and this: Be honest…
Since when was allowing people to express themselves about your company’s products and activities a bad thing?
Often accused for being an arrogant, lumbering giant that is unsympathetic to its critics, this experience demonstrates the company is open, responsive and, above all, confident in what it does.
By allowing this free expression — within the bounds of decency — GM is demonstrating that it can take a barb or two and not get flustered.
Just like the people who might want to drive a Tahoe.
Oh MAN! Those are priceless :D Almost laughed my morning coffee out my nose…
“You live in the city, chump” ;)
(Disclaimer: I own an SUV. But it’s a 4-cyl Honda Element with front-wheel drive. Rated a LEV – low emissions vehicle, and gets mileage similar to my former, and much smaller, Saturn wagon)
Dominic – Who said it was a bad thing? I think it’s great!
GM is demonstrating that it can take a barb or two and not get flustered. Just like the people who might want to drive a Tahoe.
As generalizations go, that seems like a pretty accurate one to me — big SUV drivers don’t get flustered because they’re too busy being imperious.
This one is great:
http://www.chevyapprentice.com/view.php?country=us&uniqueid=01c9816a-1362-1029-98eb-0013724ff5a7
(disclaimer: I am one of the few people in the UK who drives a Chevy)
Oops, wrong link (got so many damn Chevy windows open here).
The one I meant to post was this:
http://www.chevyapprentice.com/view.php?country=us&uniqueid=bd660876-13a3-1029-98eb-0013724ff5a7
Dan – Wow! That last one nails it.