It Didn't Take Long for Another Automaker to Screw Up a Marketing Ploy

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Think back. Waaay back — to 11:19 a.m.

In that article, we chronicled Fiat Chrysler’s deft handling (and perhaps, planning) of a historical Super Bowl Ram commercial that sparked a fierce social media backlash, all thanks to the spot’s use of dialogue from Martin Luther King, Jr.

We told you, all that time ago, and with all the certainty of someone knowing the sun will rise again, that the next automaker might not find itself so unscatched by a marketing blunder (if indeed you view the Ram ad as a blunder). Well, that time has come. Mercedes-Benz just offended a whole country.

The country in question is every automaker’s retirement plan: China. With its rising middle class growing ever-fonder of private vehicle ownership, China is fertile ground for automakers — especially premium, status-signalling brands.

According to Reuters, Mercedes-Benz decided to start the week with an inspirational (aspirational, really) “Monday Motivation” post on Instagram featuring a photo of a white C-Series coupe sitting on a windswept beach. And what better way to appear deep than pasting a quote from a spiritual leader?

“Look at the situations from all angles, and you will become more open.”

Wise words, indeed. And how about that Benz? Boy howdy…

Unfortunately for the German automaker, the quote originated from the Dalai Lama — spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, lover of robes, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and noted bad joke recipient. He also led a rebellion against China in 1959, seeking independence for his Tibetan homeland. The rebellion’s failure led to his exile by the Chinese government, which still rules the disputed territory.

To make a long story short, to many Chinese, the Dalai Lama is not the inspiration figure celebrated in Western circles. After seeing the post, Bloomberg reports, China’s Communist Party-run Global Times newspaper slammed the automaker.

Quick, to the damage control boat!

“We will promptly take steps to deepen our understanding of Chinese culture and values, our international staff included, to help standardize our actions to ensure this sort of issue doesn’t happen again,” the automaker said in a statement, not long after deleting the offending post.

On its official Chinese Weibo social media account, Mercedes-Benz wrote, “We fully understand this incident has hurt the feelings of Chinese people, including Mercedes-Benz’s employees in China,” adding that the post contained “extremely mistaken information.”

Sure, China can be criticized for a good number of issues, including the ruling party’s shocking history of human rights abuses, but this is business. When wooing the world’s hottest emerging car market, your grovelling game had better be as good as your marketing game.

[Image: Daimler AG]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • OneAlpha OneAlpha on Feb 07, 2018

    Sounds like right before Volkswagen came out with their Das Auto campaign, they had a commercial on for like two days - I saw it once - where at the end of the spot, a German voice comes on and says, "It's vot ze people vant!"

  • Cimarron typeR Cimarron typeR on Feb 07, 2018

    Meh, China is N Korea exceptin they buy more crap

  • MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
  • Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
  • THX1136 Always liked the Mustang though I've never owned one. I remember my 13 yo self grabbing some Ford literature that Oct which included the brochure for the Mustang. Using my youthful imagination I traced the 'centerfold' photo of the car AND extending the roof line back to turn it into a small wagon version. At the time I thought it would be a cool variant to offer. What was I thinking?!
  • GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
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