“First they ignore us, then they laugh at us, then they fight us, then we win” —Mahatma Ghandi.
This famous quote, so often used by activists and the counterculture to justify their continued struggle against what often seems like insurmountable odds, could today be giving solace to an unlikely subject: General Motors, the world’s largest corporation.
Wonder what we’re talking about? Turn on your computer’s sound system and take a look here. Like that? Have a look at this one. Pick yourself up, man, this is unseemly behaviour! Now look at this.
These are all “car commercials” done on a website GM [yes, that genetically modified car company –ed.] has set up for the express purpose of inviting folks to participate in an on-line “apprenticeship competition” (a la “La Donald”) for the chance to make an ad for their latest SUV release.
Guess what folks will be hearing soon at the executive board rooms in Detroit?
We think it will be something like this:
YOU’RE FIRED!
(Thanks and a tip of the hat to our pals over at Bricoleurbanism, that mildly abrasive soap substitute that wants nothing to do with “a bicycle expressway stretching from east to west across Toronto on Bloor-Danforth”). Bricoleurbanism sent us a couple others (this one, this one and this one) that we didn’t think were as laugh-out-loud funny, but you may enjoy seeing them anyway.
In addition, take a look at the links we posted on the weekend, found here, including one “commercial” made by none other than Antonia Zerbisias of the Toronto Star.
Think this is fun? Always wondered what it would be like in the upper echelons of car culture? Well, wonder no longer: it’s time to roll your own! And feel free to send a link of your creation to the ALLDERBLOB in our comment forum.
There are a number of links on the Daily Kos blob here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/2/14105/34889 .
Here's a particularly cold one:
http://www.chevyapprentice.com/view.php?country=us&uniqueid=3999569a-119d-1029-98eb-0013724ff5a7
here is a link to a site connected with daily Kos that has "captured" the projects of quite a few folks:
http://www.stuffm8.com/Kossacks/html/index.html
Hope it outlives the official GM promotion!
Here's a particularly stirring one. "Is that why god put you on this earth?"
http://www.chevyapprentice.com/view.php?country=us&uniqueid=4ec4a5e2-13cd-1029-98eb-0013724ff5a7
here's an exchange between the Allderblob and our intellectual better over at bricoleurbanism.ca (link there from our main page):
us: "you have to see Antonia Zerbisias's column in today's Star. She thinks we're all being taken in by GM, for whom this is an "edgy" experiment in "consumer-driven advertising.""
Bricoleurbanism: "That's probably partly true - the thing is, those people making fun of the Tahoe and automakers would never have bought a Tahoe anyway - soGM doesn't care about them - for those who just think it's fun and are just making entries (serious or not), it's very possible that it would seep into the subconscious and that the competition in the end will
actually get more potential car buyers aware of the Tahoe. but how many of those people will actually BUY one?
"Normally this kind of co-opting of an idea of "cool" or of a more "cool" fringe community for the purposes of advertising is not done by giving this much control to reverse the message by the community themselves - in that sense, I'm not sure GM is taking us all in. but whether people's sarcastic versions are turning away anyone from buying a Tahoe is another question - probably unlikely.
"The real question is, what percentage of the entries reversed their message? That's something they will NEVER let be known - and the fact that people have had their entries removed from the website is suggestive of GM engaging in damage-control. But again, how many have been removed, and was there some kind of justification (eg. profanity)?
"GM's in such bad shape I'm not sure they could ever truly be accused of "taking us all in", could they? Is the Tahoe going to take over the automobile market? It's plain enough that a ridiculous number of people already seem to think it's ok to buy an SUV even without this ad campaign.
"At the very least, GM is probably getting what it wants out of this campaign, and anti-car activist groups have been given a new idea, and a new little toolkit - the possibility of creating an anti-car advertising campaign using the imagery of the car ad against itself, and been given the tools to do it.
"All we need now is a government body to fund the campaign (or a hell of a lot of donations)."