Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Chrysler, LLC.
Can't win for losing: Chrysler criticized for "Thank You" ads
After receiving at least $4 billion dollars in low cost government loans, Chrysler, LLC thought the least it could do was thank the American people for their support. Instead of calling a press conference or writing a heart-felt letter to major newspapers, team Pentastar thought it best to take out full page ads in newspapers across America. Actually, maybe it wasn't such a good idea (not to mention several pop-up text ads). It seems there are quite a few Americans that don't like the fact that Chrysler found the need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars taking out ads in papers when the company is struggling to remain in business. The full page ads were run in papers including the USA Today and Wall Street Journal, where the price of a full-page ad can reportedly cost up to $264,000.
Action group American Solutions calls the ads "a precise example of the fact that they do not get it" and Americans for Tax Reform likened Chrysler's ads to a polite robber that said please and thank you but still made off with the cash. It's not surprising that special interest groups would jump on the ads, but apparently some tax-paying Americans are just as displeased. A click over to Chrysler's blog shows some angry responses. There are 15 consumer responses so far, and none of them are positive. We're no ad gurus, but this didn't seem like a very good idea from the start, and it appears we're not alone.
[Source: Fox News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
JMC3 9:05AM (12/31/2008)
No time for gimmickry.Get to work Chrysler.Time to get real serious.
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Asher M. 9:10AM (12/31/2008)
I can't believe it. They're spending out tax money to say thank you to us. What rubbish! The emotions I'm feeling: It's like giving a present to someone on Christmas and then getting the same one back again, slightly damaged. My God! Chrysler, LLC has lost it.
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j 12:07PM (12/31/2008)
It's more like giving someone money to buy you a gift, which is pretty much what this is.
sw 1:26PM (12/31/2008)
A better way to feel would be if a pickpocket stole your wallet legally, and then had the stones to send you a thank you letter for your part as a victim in the thievery.
The auto manufacturers that took my money can go fornicate themselves.
TMRnSD 9:14PM (12/31/2008)
It's a loan not a gift. They were going to advertise anyway so why not say thank you in their ad?
n8new 9:12AM (12/31/2008)
"There are 15 consumer responses so far, and none of them are positive."
-Surprise, surprise. Haven't you realize that most people who post on blogs are negative and angry anyway? I haven't seen an overwhelmingly positive blog anywhere.
"We're no ad gurus, but this didn't seem like a very good idea from the start, and it appears we're not alone."
-Really? 15 consumer responses from those who purposefully seek out issues to complain about and vent their terminal negativity makes you feel you're not alone? If there is one thing I've learned about the internet, its that it falsely makes you feel everyone is doing or agrees with a certain thing, or that everything or every idea is more prevalent than it actually is. You can find any number of sites or blogs that make you feel your opinions or ideas are more "normal."
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MajorGeek 9:56AM (12/31/2008)
Idiot. You basically just posted a negative response complaining about people being negative.
Nick 10:32AM (12/31/2008)
@n8new you seem like a guy who probably gets flamed on the internet on a regular basis, so I'll keep this short: Chrysler's days are numbered, and its time for you to come to grips with that. It's not because of angry bloggers or some sort of grand anti-MOPAR consipiracy, its because of incredibly poor products...blame management, luck, or whatever, by and large they are failing because no one wants to drive those cars.
Rocketboy 11:17AM (12/31/2008)
So, the correct response should be to be very appreciative of their good manners with sending us a thank you know, while recognizing how smart they are by using newspapers to send out the thank you notes, as opposed to sending us cards individually?
moyoi 11:20AM (12/31/2008)
Hey Geek, don't be mean, he was just proving a point.
n8new 11:30AM (12/31/2008)
"by and large they are failing because no one wants to drive those cars."
So, Nick, you're going to stick with that assertion? That's your true perception? Please enlighten me: what cars do people wish to drive instead? What manufacturers? I'm certainly not making the assertion that everyone wishes to drive a Chrysler brand product, but I just want to be certain of your belief in your assertion, and which brands besides GM, Toyota, and Ford you believe people wish to buy instead (if any)?
cFoo 12:58PM (12/31/2008)
@MajorGeek - LOL the best burn of 2009 on autoblog. well done mate.
Brn 9:13AM (12/31/2008)
It's called marketing. If you don't market, people don't buy your cars.
Anything they would have done would have likely been criticized.
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jpm100 9:20AM (12/31/2008)
Its just something to enrage the pitchforks and torches crowd.
Logic, like it is a marketing or PR effort meant to pay for itself
won't sink in.
Aki 12:52PM (12/31/2008)
No it's called failed marketing. You don't thank people that were against the bailout for giving you money by spending their money on expensive ads. They could've issued a press release and put it on the wire for much cheaper.
Rocketboy 4:26PM (12/31/2008)
Just like the big outcry against GM and Ford for not giving out a thank you card?
MemphisNET 9:14AM (12/31/2008)
You are welcome Chrysler!
There -- was that so hard? People need to chill.
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Obviously DaMinority 11:17AM (12/31/2008)
Amen, Brother.
If it was easy or simple, we wouldn't be in the situation we are in. If the flamers had the ability to do, rather than just to criticize, they'd be running international businesses.
TMRnSD 8:56PM (12/31/2008)
LOL that's great!
n8new 9:17AM (12/31/2008)
POSSIBILITY: The money for advertising for the year may have already been spent before the receipt of the government loans or even the downturn in the auto
sector and couldn't be refunded or recouped. If you can't get it back, why not use it? And why not use it to show gratitude?
It is the last few weeks of the year you know! I'm almost sure the money had already been paid.
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