Essay 4855

At one point, it was written that the new Chevy Malibu campaign was created exclusively by General Motors’ general-market agency Campbell-Ewald. However, given all the alleged misreporting, it’s impossible to determine fact from fiction these days.

But it would be interesting to identify the creative culprits behind the Chevy Malibu style guide depicted above. The layouts are cluttered, the typography’s illegible and the copy is contrived. Never Leave The House Without Ice? The borrowed interest and irrelevance are running full tilt here.

Regardless of who’s doing the work, GM is overdoing it with the hip-hop artists. As noted in Essay 4832, it seems like every U.S. automaker targeting Black audiences has signed up a rapper or R&B recording artist. Ford has Kelis, Chris Brown and more. Common is hawking the Lincoln Navigator. Pontiac partnered with 50 Cent. Chevy has just about everyone else, including T.I. and Mary J. Blige—and now David Banner and Birdman.

There’s never been a better time for MC Hammer and Kool Moe Dee to make a comeback.