11720: Not A Great Day For Honda.

Automotive News reported Honda had to revise a new Civic commercial after people took offense to scenes of protesters marching in front of a federal court building in the bankrupt city of Detroit. Longtime AOR RPA is apparently responsible for the spot—and after having survived a pitch that saw the Acura business reassigned to Mullen in Boston. Gee, there used to be a time when RPA produced breakthrough and award-winning work for the automaker. Actually, the time spanned over 25 years or so.

Honda tweaks national Civic ad that spotlighted Detroit’s ‘pain’

By Sean Gagnier, Automotive News

DETROIT—Honda Motor Co. has tweaked a national commercial for the Civic compact after the original spot caused an uproar in Detroit for featuring images of protesters outside of a federal court in the bankrupt city.

The spot, created by Honda’s chief advertising agency, RPA in Santa Monica, Calif., overlaid images of the bankruptcy court and protestors outside a federal courthouse in Detroit over a blues singer before moving on to show more positive images.

The commercial, entitled “Today Is Pretty Great,” began airing Jan. 8.

While the protestors and court are unrecognizable to most viewers, some Detroiters immediately identified it as the city’s Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse.

In the updated spot, Honda removed footage of the courthouse and protesters.

The court shown in the original commercial is hearing arguments in the city of Detroit’s bankruptcy case.

The city, owing billions of dollars to creditors and faced with a slumping tax base and steady population losses, filed the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy case in July 2013.

City employees and retirees face the prospect of wage, benefit and pension cuts as part of any bankruptcy settlement.

The Detroit News published a story on Friday about the commercial and the negative response it was receiving in Detroit. Just hours later, Honda officials told the newspaper that they would be removing the images of protestors.

“The slight change we made to the commercial simply reflects our desire to remove anything that would get in the way of our uplifting message,” Honda spokesman Steve Kinkade told Automotive News on Saturday. “The original commercial obviously was not intended to represent Detroit or the challenges experienced by the city, its people or our industry.”

The Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the National Action Network’s Michigan chapter, told the News that the original ad was a slap in Detroit’s face.

“They’re using our pain for their pleasure to promote Japanese automobiles while we are suffering in part because of the decline of American automobiles from foreign automakers,” Williams told the paper.

Kinkade said the spirit of the commercial was intended to serve as a positive expression for everyone and the “incredibly positive response” it has generated reflects these intentions.

“Honda has operations and personnel in the city of Detroit and elsewhere in the metro Detroit area and we continue to be actively engaged in a variety of community outreach activities in the city,” Kinkade said. “We’re pleased Honda is playing a role in the continued comeback of the city.”

11634: You’ve Come A Long Way, Barra.

Reuters reported General Motors is elevating Global Product Development Chief Mary Barra to CEO, making her the first woman to run the automaker. Since GM was founded in 1908, the move was arguably long overdue. However, it must be pointed out that a White woman still rose to the top before a Black executive. Then again, one might argue that President Barack Obama officially took over GM during the bailout.

General Motors names product chief Mary Barra as new CEO

DETROIT, Dec 10 (Reuters) - General Motors Co on Tuesday said Chief Executive Dan Akerson will step down next month and be replaced by Mary Barra, the company’s global product development chief, marking the first time a major U.S. automaker has been led by a woman.

The company said in a statement that Akerson, who is also the chairman, will leave on Jan. 15, pulling ahead his planned departure by several months. His wife was recently diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer.

Barra, 51, the executive vice president for global product development, purchasing and supply chain, was elected by the company board as the next CEO and will become a director. Theodore Solso, 66, will succeed Akerson, 65, as chairman.

10471: General Motors Steers Clear Of Politics…?

The Week published a perspective on General Motors’ attempts to distance itself from the presidential campaigns. Apparently, GM doesn’t want to take sides in the political fray and/or look beholden to any party or politician. Funny, the automaker didn’t hesitate to encourage employees and dealers to beg Congressional representatives for a bailout in 2008. Somebody should ask former General Motors Liar/new Team Detroit CEO Mark LaNeve if he’s better off today than four years ago.

Why is GM barring Obama and Romney from its plants?

The auto giant is doing all it can to remain above the political fray, but analysts say the company’s mega-bailout isn’t going to be forgotten anytime soon

“Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive.” That’s the message Vice President Joe Biden is hammering home as the campaign barrels toward November — and there’s no easier way to make politics-averse “GM executives cringe,” say Nathan Bomey and Todd Spangler at The Detroit Free Press. Of course, the auto giant probably wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t received billions of dollars from the government in 2009, making GM a hot topic on the campaign trail. Indeed, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate, caused a huge controversy when he suggested that President Obama was to blame for the closure of a GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wis. GM has responded to all this political debate in a unilateral way: By barring all candidates — including Obama and Romney — from visiting any of its plants. Here, a guide to GM’s allergic reaction to the November elections:

Why is GM so skittish about the election?

GM is “loath to appear siding with one party or another,” since it relies on all “Americans to buy its products,” says Fox News. And with the government still holding a 32 percent stake in the company, GM doesn’t want to be known as “Government Motors,” as some conservatives have dubbed it. “It’s an understatement to say we can’t wait for November to get here,” Bob Ferguson, GM’s vice president for global public policy, tells Bomey and Spangler.

Is its no-candidate policy unique?

No. Chrysler also announced that it would no longer allow candidates at its plants. However, Chrysler has repaid the aid it received from the government, and has played a smaller role in the debate over the auto bailout. Ford, which survived the recession without a bailout, has long barred candidates from its properties. GM has also taken the further step of telling Obama and Romney that they can’t feature footage of GM plants in their advertisements.

Are Obama and Romney going to back off?

No. The auto bailout is expected to be brought up constantly at the Democratic National Convention in early September, since the White House believes it’s a popular policy among swing voters, particularly in the battleground state of Ohio. Romney, meanwhile, is expected to continue attacking Obama for “crony capitalism” and wasting taxpayer dollars. (It bears remembering that the auto bailout began in 2008, under President Bush, and was broadened when Obama got into office.)

Will GM’s strategy work?

Probably not. GM’s strategy of duck-and-cover is pretty pointless — “there really isn’t any place to hide,” says Ted Reed at The Street. The company is going to be “dragged into a dysfunctional political system” whether it likes it or not, since “banning candidates from GM plants isn’t going to make the auto bailout any less of a contentious issue.”

Sources: CNN, The Detroit Free Press, Fox News, The Huffington Post, The Street

10468: LaNeve LaBor Day Weekend Laughs.

MultiCultClassics isn’t the only one thinking new Team Detroit CEO Mark LaNeve is a slimy idiot.

In 2008, Ray Wert at Jalopnik had fun with LaNeve’s email to GM dealers asking them to call their representatives in Congress and beg for bailout support.

Additionally, Robert Farago at The Truth About Cars likened LaNeve to Curly Howard of The Three Stooges.

In 2009, Farago examined letters from LaNeve to GM dealers. By October, Farago was declaring, “Mark LaNeve is Insane.”

Meanwhile, blogger Chris Preston ripped LaNeve after receiving junk mail from the former GM executive:

This guy sent me a “letter” this week. His name is Mark LaNeve. He’s the North American Vice President of Sales, Services and Marketing for General Motors. Please note the cufflinks.

The letter I received was all happy talk about how GM is working so hard to serve my needs and how committed they are to being my car company of choice in the future or something. I tossed the letter out after the third paragraph, which was calling my attention to the Aveo, the new model that GM is introducing “in the compact car segment for 2009.”

The “compact car segment"?” Is this the way you talk to your friends? (Ol’ Mark probably does, when he and his buddies tee off while laughing about customer demographics…) Mark sees me as a profit source because I’m someone who’s already bought. It’s his responsibility to get me to buy again. However, he made the mistake of assuming that I give a damn about his “brand” and that I feel that he and I have needs that [complement] each other. He knew exactly what kind of car I owned, and still pitched me on a compact? Clueless. He didn’t even use the information he already had about me as a customer, how could he care about me as a person? What he should have done was connect with me, make himself available to me personally and explain how my concerns and his are similar. Wasted paper and postage, Mark. You’re just a dinosaur, man. Your day is in the past. Sorry pal. Nice tie.

9720: The Patriots Of Madison Avenue.

A number of advertising sources—including MultiCultClassics—have noted the outrageousness of General Motors’ decision to consolidate its $3 billion media and planning duties with U.K.-based Carat. The gripes are basically the same; i.e., how dare the automaker that needed a federal bailout to stay in business now take its business overseas? The added pro-American sentiment, however, sounds slightly silly coming from Madison Avenue practitioners.

For starters, many U.S. agencies are currently tied to holding companies based in Europe and abroad. Why, Dentsu of Japan owns the Agency of the Year. And JWT fancies itself a true international agency—at least when producing propaganda on its commitment to diversity. Admakers love to stage commercial shoots in foreign lands under the guise of saving clients production dollars. Of course, all of these shops woo potential new accounts with real and imagined global capabilities. (On an ironic side note, one of the few networks headquartered in this country, IPG, reportedly didn’t pay taxes from 2008 through 2010.)

Oh, and when a U.S. agency is seeking new creative or organizational leadership, the top candidates are Brits with strong English accents and weak American experience.

9713: GM Moves From Bailout To Bullshit.

Advertising Age reported on an event that has ties to the recent MultiCultClassics rant spotlighting the Chevrolet Route 66 crowdsourcing contest. One gripe about the Chevy promotion involved the hypocrisy of a corporation taking advantage of desperate people in a rough economy—despite having begged for a federal bailout to remain in business. Now General Motors announced consolidating its $3 billion media and planning duties with a firm based in the U.K. The U.S. saves GM’s ass from financial ruin, and the company responds by taking its business overseas. Brilliant. It seems like the automaker spends more time producing lies than lemons.

Ewanick on GM Media Review: ‘Should Have Done This Many Years Ago’

Quality as Well as Efficiency Drove Decision

By Stephen Williams

General Motors’ Joel Ewanick insists that it wasn’t only money but quality that drove his decision to place GM’s $3 billion global media-buying and -planning account with Aegis’ Carat agency.

“We scrutinized the presentations” during the review process, which began months ago, said Mr. Ewanick, GM’s global chief marketing officer. “I really want to compliment Carat . I went back and forth on this in the past nine weeks. At the end of the day, it was definitely about finding efficiencies, but at the same time we wanted to raise the quality.

“We saw ways to grow with Carat , and we’re willing to establish a new culture,” Mr. Ewanick said. “We probably should have done this many years ago, and that became painfully clear during the presentations.” The consolidation reduces the number to one from 50. Still, he said, “it’s going to take a couple of years for this to seed in.”

The other shoe in the agency review, which formally began last August and involved Chevrolet creative globally, will not drop for several weeks, Mr. Ewanick said. “The creative side is even more complicated than the media,” he said. As of now, Goodby Silverstein & Partners handles North American creative duties for Chevrolet.

Mr. Ewanick said his attention for the immediate future is focused on ad buys for the Super Bowl. He said that this past Sunday he decided to air a 30-second version of a contest-winning, consumer-generated Camaro commercial called “Happy Grads.” It ran during that night’s NFC Championship game on Fox.

The company plans five spots for next week’s game. “It’s almost like running a political campaign,” Mr. Ewanick said.

9710: Chevrolet Route 66 Is A Bad Trip.

Chevrolet Route 66 is one of those crowdsourcing promotions whereby people submit commercial concepts for prizes and the chance to see their big idea play during the Super Bowl. The tired formula actually ran out of gas years ago, yet lazy advertisers continue to ride with it annually.

The Chevy contest is obscene for a host of reasons.

First, the car company opened the field to everyone, including independent directors and filmmakers. This allowed D- and F-level production houses to essentially expel fecal matter spec work.

Second, Chevy presented cash prizes starting at $1,000 and topping at $25,000. Um, the average cost to create a television spot is over $300,000. It’s a safe bet that the typical Chevy commercial shoot spends more than $1,000 just for craft services.

Third, while the winning commercial is OK, does anyone believe Chevy’s lead advertising agency, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, couldn’t come up with something much, much better?

Finally, it’s appalling that Chevy would take advantage of the desperation fueled by a lousy economy—especially when the automaker needed a federal bailout to avoid complete financial collapse.

9478: Checking On Bouncing Banks.

Banks Don’t Like You held its Bank Transfer Day. Did you hug your Credit Union representative today?

8360: GM + MLK = WTF.

The General Motors Foundation is asking every American to donate $82 toward the MLK Memorial. Um, the automaker that messed with minority advertising agencies and begged for a bailout now wants the average citizen to cough up cash? Brilliant.

7372: Chevy Volt Dance? Try Dolt Dance.

Much has already been said and posted regarding the infamous Chevy Volt Dance. Check out the video if you missed it. Lost in all the criticism aimed at the stupidity of General Motors and the wasting of bailout money is the probability that some White advertising agency-event marketing shop-PR firm came up with this garbage. When U.S. automakers should be producing the most compelling and breakthrough messages ever, consumers are bombarded with the same old contrived, hackneyed bullshit. Brought to you by an advertising industry that has been as resistant to change and culturally clueless as the automakers it services.

7352: Wake-Up Calls.

Tired news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• With all the talk of advertisers questioning their Tiger Woods sponsorships, one has to wonder what the manufacturers of Ambien are thinking. It’s unlikely the drug maker could leverage matters into a campaign, as the legal disclaimers would have to include, “Side effects include potential assaults by furious Swedish bikini models.” At the same time, one has to wonder if Ambien is actually encouraging all the blog and online coverage.

• With the victory of city controller Annise Parker, Houston became the biggest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor. At least this story will probably have no unsavory ties to Tiger Woods.

• The Obama administration will limit the cash compensation of executives whose companies benefited from federal bailout money to $500,000. Hey, shouldn’t taxpayers have received a vote on figuring the amount?

7186: Lil News Items.

Doing hard time with hard news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Lil Wayne pleaded guilty to felony gun charges, and he’ll likely spend a year in jail. The rapper will be sentenced in February, so he still has a lil time before doing time.

• The Obama administration is insisting top executives from companies that received federal bailouts must take 90 percent pay cuts. Plus, any executive seeking perks in excess of $25,000—like country club memberships and private jets—must first get permission from the administration. Of course, even with these measures, most of the honchos are still multimillionaires.

• KFC is planning to retry its grilled chicken giveaway, promising there will be no need for rainchecks. It’s the third time the fast feeder has promoted the new menu item in such a way. Which goes to show you they can’t even give the shit away.

• MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer apologized for accidentally introducing Rev. Jesse Jackson as Rev. Al Sharpton during a broadcast. Sharpton will probably file a lawsuit.

7119: Coffee, Tea Or Me?

Grande news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Bikini-clad baristas in Washington were busted for prostitution because they charged customers to touch their breasts and buttocks. Plus, the women were billing up to $80 to strip while preparing beverages. Oddly enough, the services still sound more affordable than Starbucks.

• At the 140: Twitter Conference, co-founder Biz Stone declared the micro-blogging site will stay ad-free through 2009. Um, somebody tell Biz that over half the Tweets are advertisements.

• In California, 70 Jack In The Box restaurants were temporarily shut down because the owner-operator owes around $1.5 million in sales taxes. Imagine this guy’s troubles if the government eventually approves additional taxes for fast food. Jack will be appealing to President Obama for a burger bailout.

6930: Minority Broadcaster Bailout?

From The New York Daily News…

Minority broadcasters to Treasury Secretary Geithner: We need a bailout, too

By David Hinckley, Daily News Staff Writer

A dozen of the country’s largest minority broadcasters warn they’ll be “extinct” if they don’t get some federal bailout dollars — or at least a helping hand with bank loans.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, dated Sunday, the broadcasters say a credit crunch from “plummeting ad revenue” and other factors has led to an “unprecedented crisis.”

The letter does not address the sticky topic of whether government should provide financial assistance to media, but does warn that a loss of these stations could “roll back decades of work by the federal government to encourage more minority voices.”

The letter asks for either the direct aid provided to the auto and financial services industry, or government pressure on banks to free up money for loans.

Signers of the letter include Pierre Sutton, chairman of Inner City Broadcasting Co., which owns radio stations WBLS and WLIB. Inner City was founded by former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, Pierre’s father.

It also was signed by Sydney Small, owner of WWRL, and by Raul Alarcon, president of Spanish Broadcasting Systems. His company owns New York’s two largest Spanish radio stations, WSKQ and WPAT-FM.

WSKQ, which a few years ago was the city’s No. 1 station, says revenues have plummeted 40% or more in the last year. WBLS says its revenues are down by more than half, compared with an industrywide average of 20% to 30%.

Treasury Department spokeswoman Meg Reilly did not return calls asking when and if the request would be considered.