Advertising Age published follow-up reporting on the Ram Super Bowl commercial featuring voiceover duties by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that drew quick criticism for its cultural cluelessness. Dodge Ram defended the execution, insisting it had received approval from the civil rights leader’s estate. The King Center, however, stated having no involvement in the scenario. The sad part is, while MultiCultClassics is categorizing this mess under BHM 2018, it’s very likely that no one at Dodge Ram even knows February is Black History Month.
Ram Defends Super Bowl Ad, Says Martin Luther King Estate Approved it
By E.J. Schultz
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Sunday night defended a polarizing Super Bowl ad for its Ram brand that used a Martin Luther King Jr. speech delivered 50 years ago. The spot drew criticism on social media immediately after it aired in the game’s second quarter. Some observers knocked it for being tone deaf. But the company said it worked in collaboration with Martin Luther King Jr.’s estate on the spot.
“It is 50 years to the day that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave such a tremendous speech about the value of service. Ram was honored to have the privilege of working with the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. to celebrate those words during the largest TV viewing event annually,” the company stated. “We worked closely with the representatives of the Martin Luther King Jr. estate to receive the necessary approvals and estate representatives were a very important part of the creative process every step of the way.”
As the ad was being assailed on Twitter, another entity, The King Center, made it clear it had nothing to do with it. The center was founded by King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, as a living memorial to the civil rights icon.
The ad, by a Chicago-based boutique ad agency called Highdive, used the audio of an MLK speech delivered on Feb. 4, 1968, against a montage of everyday people, along with shots of the Ram 1500 truck. The ad sought to portray a message of service. On its website, Ram plugs “Ram Nation,” an organization of Ram owners that engages in service projects.
But some people found the ad tasteless.
But other people came to Ram’s defense.
Ram is not the first automaker to incorporate Reverend King in an ad. General Motors in 2006 used him, along with images of Muhammad Ali and others in a spot for its Chevy Silverado. Mercedes-Benz also used footage of King in a 2010 ad.
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