What with the pulling of the Snickers Superbowl spot and now this uproar, it's getting to the point where you can't say anything. Seriously, do these people look for ways to be offended? The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has called for General Motors to pull the spot where a depressed, laid-off robot ultimately jumps off a bridge. The group also wants the spot scrubbed from the GM website and restrictions on video sharing sites like YouTube from posting the ad. Finally, the AFSP has requested an apology from GM and would like the automaker make efforts to inform the public about mental illness and suicide (translation: they want a donation from GM). WHAT!? Newsflash: General Motors is in the car business. It seems to us that the AFSP is the proper body to be working toward informing and educating the public about their cause.
This is like watching relatives come out of the woodwork when someone wins the lottery. We sincerely hope that GM's got the intestinal fortitude to stand firm against this type of brazen, outstretched-hand whining. Attempting to go digging into the pocket of General Motors does little to help further the cause of the suicide-prevention group. In fact, looking for money makes the group appear less credible. We'd rather see some robots jumping to their end than any actual humans laid off by the automakers. Of course, suicide is not funny, but there is a certain amount of dark humor that infuses the American Psyche, and the commercial's presentation was done in the most tongue-in-cheek manner. How can you take anything narrated by Don LaFontaine's "theater trailer voice" and with "all by myself" as a soundtrack seriously? We understand where the group is coming from, but it's totally out of line to be asking GM for some kind of underwriting because of a humorous tv ad. We haven't heard the AFSP making any noise about the rampant portryal of hara-kiri and other violence on other shows (heck, there was a bloody suicide on ER just last week!). Nor have we heard an uproar over other commercials aired during the Super Bowl that contained suicide themes. Both Washington Mutual and Career Builder aired such spots. In the end, it's a robot! We weren't aware that Antropomorphs are people, too.
[Source: AdAge]
This is like watching relatives come out of the woodwork when someone wins the lottery. We sincerely hope that GM's got the intestinal fortitude to stand firm against this type of brazen, outstretched-hand whining. Attempting to go digging into the pocket of General Motors does little to help further the cause of the suicide-prevention group. In fact, looking for money makes the group appear less credible. We'd rather see some robots jumping to their end than any actual humans laid off by the automakers. Of course, suicide is not funny, but there is a certain amount of dark humor that infuses the American Psyche, and the commercial's presentation was done in the most tongue-in-cheek manner. How can you take anything narrated by Don LaFontaine's "theater trailer voice" and with "all by myself" as a soundtrack seriously? We understand where the group is coming from, but it's totally out of line to be asking GM for some kind of underwriting because of a humorous tv ad. We haven't heard the AFSP making any noise about the rampant portryal of hara-kiri and other violence on other shows (heck, there was a bloody suicide on ER just last week!). Nor have we heard an uproar over other commercials aired during the Super Bowl that contained suicide themes. Both Washington Mutual and Career Builder aired such spots. In the end, it's a robot! We weren't aware that Antropomorphs are people, too.
[Source: AdAge]
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