GM Quietly Erases Online Ad Already Pulled From Television

by Matt Posky

January 18th, 2019 3:29 PM

gm quietly erases online ad already pulled from television

In a rare victory for television, General Motors was forced to pull one of its obnoxious “Real People” ads earlier this week after Ford, Toyota, and Honda cried foul over its claims. If you missed our earlier coverage, the gist was that GM stated Chevrolet was the more dependable brand by surprising rival owners — who were definitely not paid actors — with totally reliable data…

One of the biggest problems with the spot was that the reliability-related praise heaped on Chevrolet’s vehicles was, in many cases, supported by data obtained from previous-generation vehicles. That gave the annoyed automakers solid footing to call the commercial misleading and deploy their lawyers. Earlier this month, GM’s legal team was sent a letter demanding the company stop making the reliability claims in its television campaign and was given until January 14th to respond to the demands.

General Motors ultimately responded by saying the ad had already stopped airing nationally and that it would be removed from local markets in the coming weeks. It noted that it stood by the claims. Then, earlier today, it also removed the commercial from the internet.

Officially, Chevrolet says it is moving in a different marketing direction, preparing a fresh campaign for the new Silverado pickup trucks.

“Chevrolet stands by the reliability claim and the ad remains in the brand’s toolbox but we have decided to take it out of the regular rotation at this time to launch new Silverado creative,” Chevrolet said in an emailed statement to The Detroit News. “We have not altered our marketing campaign because of any concerns with the accuracy of our ad content.”

However, downplaying what happened hasn’t been enough to save it. While Honda remained mum on the subject beyond expressing its initial concerns, Toyota and Ford have been more vocal. Toyota spokeswoman Karen Nielsen confirmed that her company was informed by GM that the ads would be taken down. Ford’s Mike Levine said the same but noted the spot was still being aired in Southeastern Michigan rather frequently. “We’d like to see that [stop] immediately,” he said.

It looks like General Motors has complied and taken the next step by scrubbing the ad’s very existence from online media. As of today, we cannot find the commercial anywhere on Chevrolet’s YouTube or social media accounts. But, if you would like to see it, it has been ripped and uploaded elsewhere and will assuredly make an appearance on Zebra Corner in order to be ridiculed.

#Ads #CarAds #Chevrolet #Commercials #GeneralMotors #GM #HotLegalAction #J.D.Power #RealPeople #Reliability #TruthVersusAdvertising

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2 of 78 comments

Jeff S on Jan 20, 2019

How much did they pay that pretentious bearded douchebag? I doubt he has ever driven a Chevy or any GM product.

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Get Necked Ya Dumb Nigger! on Jan 21, 2019

Funny because during one of the games tonight a local Chevy dealer ran the ad. THAT'LL SHOW EM!

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