A robot working at General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) makes a mistake, gets fired and commits suicide. No, wait, the robot wakes up and realizes it was only having a bad dream. Not funny, says the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.Like the Snickers male-on-male kissing ad that I blogged about Tuesday, the GM robot committing suicide ad is getting a lot of negative criticism. Unlike the Snickers ad, which was pulled by the Mars company after the negative feedback, General Motors says it has "no plans" to drop the spot and plans on airing it again during the Feb. 25 Academy Awards broadcast.
To me, the only thing worse than having an ad that is received so poorly is not having the good sense to pull it fast enough. GM likely spent over $2 million for the backlash they are facing now -- including former Energy secretary Donald Hodel saying that anyone who loses someone to suicide in the near future should consider suing GM. So why exactly would GM pay more to put this same ad on the Oscar stage?
Looking at this another way, I think this sort of thing is likely to drive down the price of advertising at the Super Bowl, which is often criticized as being a waste of money for larger, established corporations.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-08-2007 @ 4:16PM
EJ Passeos said...
This ad was terrible. Joking about suicide? Where do these geniuses come from that create these ads? Aren't there people at GM that must have given a green light to it?
Compounding the error by refusing to pull it only tarnishes their image more.
2-08-2007 @ 10:51AM
Tim77 said...
Seems to me that when the criticism of these ads come from self-interest groups, the vehemence and extent of the criticism has to be questioned.
2-08-2007 @ 2:53PM
Scott Fisher said...
Self-Interest groups--- suicide--- are you for real??? My son died by suicide a year ago. We watched 18 superbowls together. I watch .. that thing aomes on ... my wife starts crying... Oh yeah, I can't stop laughing
2-08-2007 @ 2:54PM
Scott Fisher said...
BTW Tim77 Gm is looking for guys like you, those 35,000 it laid off probably had hearts
2-08-2007 @ 12:33PM
CE Lingeman said...
Rather than being critical of the GM ad, perhaps GM should be thanked for raising the awareness of a tragedy that occurs all to often. It is difficult to be reminded of the loss of loved ones, but how can you go thru life without being reminded daily? None of us live in protective, insulated, boxes.
2-10-2007 @ 2:11PM
Fran Preve said...
This ad left a bad taste in my mouth when I first saw it. GM is making a BIG mistake to keep on running it. It's NOT funny, and it does NOT say anything positive about how badly we're striving to increase our quality to the highest level possible. There is nothing positive in the ad, only negative. Wise up brainiac's, dump the ad, NOW!.
2-09-2007 @ 10:12AM
Dale said...
Give ma a break. Or perhaps everyone. What are we coming to having to tiptoe around everything we do so we do not offend anyone. Of course suicide is terrible as I lost one of my best friends to it a year ago but certainly this ad does not advocate it or make light of it.