A row between General Motors and Ford over a Chevrolet truck television ad aired during weekend Super Bowl football game coverage in the US has attracted considerable media coverage both there and abroad.
In just one of a dozen reports just-auto has seen, the Detroit News said GM had refused its rival’s request, ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, to pull the ad – which implies a Ford truck owner dies along with much of the rest of humanity while a group of Silverado owners ride out the apocalypse – from its TV schedule.
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GM reportedly defended what it called a “good-humoured” spoof on Mayan predictions that the world as we know it would end in 2012.
The ad shows a Silverado navigating a “completely over-the-top, outrageous version of the devastation and destruction predicted to occur this year by the Mayan calendar which includes giant attack robots, meteors and frogs falling from the sky,” GM said in a statement emailed to media over the weekend.
“A group of friends, who are Silverado owners, makes its way to the designated meeting spot but notice one of their buddies is missing. The missing friend, however, did not drive a Chevrolet. Instead, he drove a Ford and doesn’t appear to have made it to the meeting point.”
Ford confirmed to the Detroit News it had sent GM a formal letter asking it to pull the ad. The Motown paper said it had obtained a copy of the letter that was sent by Ford lawyer Lynne Matuszak.
“Ford demands that Chevrolet immediately cease and desist from making any unsubstantiated and disparaging claims regarding Ford’s pickup trucks,” Matuszak wrote, asking GM not to run the ad and to “permanently remove the commercial from its website, its YouTube and Facebook pages and any other internet sites.”
The letter warned Ford could take further actions. “If Chevrolet does not comply with the above terms prior to the start of the Super Bowl, then Ford will take all appropriate steps to enforce and protect its reputation,” Matuszak wrote.
Speaking at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Las Vegas at the weekend, Ford global sales and marketing chief Jim Farley said: “We’ve been the leader in the truck market and the best-selling vehicle for 35 years. So from an advertising standpoint, we will absolutely defend our leadership in the market.”
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald noted that Farley last year was quoted, in a book on Ford by Bill Vlasic of the New York Times, as saying he hates GM and what it stands for. “I’m going to beat Chevrolet on the head with a bat. And I’m going to enjoy it,” Farley is quoted in the book as saying.
GM’s global chief marketing officer Joel Ewanick told the Detroit News the automaker was standing by the ad which it had also posted online. The ad has been viewed more than 2m times online.
“We stand by our claims in the commercial, that the Silverado is the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickup on the road. The ad is a fun way of putting this claim in the context of the apocalypse,” Ewanick said. “We can wait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologise. In the meantime, people who are really worried about the Mayan calendar coming true should buy a Silverado right away.”
Ewanick also said – in a posting on Twitter – that the missing Ford driver in the ad, named Dave was, fine — but “who knows about the truck.” But a person in the ad speaks in the past-tense, saying “Dave drove a Ford.”
Ford’s letter reportedly noted that the 2012 Ford F-150 is an IIHS Top Safety pick, “whereas the 2012 Chevy Silverado is not — having received less than impressive results in the IIHS side impact, rear crash and rollover tests. In light of the foregoing, Chevrolet has no basis to imply that the Silverado is either safer or more durable than Ford’s pickup trucks, yet that false claim is precisely what is conveyed to the consumer,” its lawyer wrote.
The Chevy ad was scheduled to air during the first quarter of the Super Bowl, and was one of five spots featuring the brand’s products shown during Sunday’s game.
In contrast, Ford was one of the few major automakers not advertising in the Super Bowl this year. Chrysler (Clint Eastwood ‘Detroit’ ad here), Volkswagen, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota (Camry ad here) were among those who did.
In a meeting with reporters on Sunday before the GM ad issue was made public, Farley said he regretted that Ford hadn’t filmed an extended long-form Super Bowl-style ad to generate buzz — and then simply not run the ad during the game, the Detroit News noted.
The trend this year for automakers to preview their Super Bowl ads on YouTube and through social media was covered by nationally broadcast NBC Nightly News last week.
“I just wish we could have been smarter,” Farley said, saying a Ford ad could have attracted 10m or 15m views on the internet. “What matters on these ads is the pre- and post-digital exposure. That’s how you get scale.”
