Help! Help! I’m being repressed!
We often forget that it’s liberals who lack a sense of humor:
DaimlerChrysler Marketing Bashes America […]
Take DaimlerChrysler, for instance. In the US, their marketing tends to be bland. But elsewhere, it tends to be virulently anti-American:
Virulently — are you ready for some virulence?
That seems to be what DaimlerChrysler, a multinational conglomerate that includes US companies [sic], is doing in the promotion of their ‘Smart Car‘ brand auto line [it’s actually an ad for a smart forfour.] Smart, a green [sic] car [sic] that is compact, runs on diesel fuel [sic] and will be featured prominently in Opie’s ‘The DaVinci Code’, [it was also in The Pink Panther -S,N!] is using the slogan “German engineering, Swiss innovation, American nothingâ€? on billboards in (at least) South Africa
This would be funnier if you didn’t also know that i) the smart forfour is no more “green” than any other compact car, ii) it comes with one’s choice of diesel or non-diesel engine. As for the “American nothing” part, well we’ve got news for you: it’s a joke! [Too crunchy for you?] And it’s funny… because it’s real. Indeed, the only US-based car manufacturer not in deep shit is Chrysler (you know, the one owned by a German company.)
The name ‘Smart’ is offensive to those who aren’t!
american spelling
oops…
What kind of mushy-headed bleeding heart capitalism-hater thinks a company should avoid anti-American marketing if it sells more crap? Commies.
Ah, I love those wingnutty phrases like “virulently anti-american” or “objectively pro-terrorist” that they all pass around and find impossible to use in part. Couldn’t just be “anti-american” could they? Nope. Gotta be virulent. I think that’s why so much wingnut writing looks like it’s computer generated. Sigh.
— TP in UT
chrysler was in deep shit as an american and taken over by daimler benz(don’t let anyone tell you it was a merger). even now, they are sucking down the cash from mama daimler like mad.
also, given that only 30-odd % of america itself doesn’t hate america, it’s a pretty obvious tactic to market to the majority
and given that they are all latte-sipping liberals from the hamptons(or their equivalents across the world), i would think theres beaucoup cash waiting to be made
Pft. Like any of these nutters whining about “boycotting” SMART would buy one anyways.
Speaking of which, we passed a smart fourtwo here in Canada on the highway just yesterday. It may not seem like a feat, but it was cruising smoothly at 130 Km/h (80 MPH) when we did.
What’s even funnier is that the ad seems to have been posted in south africa. Who knew those guys were so up on geopolitics? I mean, if they would have said america – occupational force that would have been more true. Maybe they decided to be polite and listen to what our mothers used to tell us; if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all…american – nothing…
Frankly, I’m happier that we don’t have our name attached to that ugly bastard of a car…
Besides, anything that gets over 20 mpg is for furriers and hippies :/snark:
Is a furrier a cross between a rabbit and the bear shit that smokey left on that poor waskly wabbit? I mean, come on, GG, tell us how you really feel about that sort of stuff?
Damn it- the furriners their Spanish version of the sacred National Anthem made me speak my English bad.
South Africans have always been more alert on global geopolitics than most nations. It comes from our fairly recent apartheid past, and our position as a fault-line in the Cold War.
We’re more outward looking than most, I guess.
Why is everyone soooooooo snarky. Lighten up. Everyone seems like they have pent up stress and are just taking it out on everyone else by being arsey.J
Why is everyone soooooooo snarky. Lighten up. Everyone seems like they have pent up stress and are just taking it out on everyone else by being arsey.
Jim, Sadly, No! Sadly, No!, Jim.
Jim did you just drop by here just to ask us that? Wow.
And the problem with this is…?
Snark snark…
Snark snark…
That statement duly represents my sentiments, I think…
Regardless of whether it’s funny or sensible marketing, it’s not great corporate governance. On holiday I once spent a while chatting to a DaimlerChrysler engineer who formerly worked at Chrysler but was one of the few Americans to get shipped over to Dusseldorf or wherever their headquarters are. Apparently the international tensions are quite strong, largely because the German operation was so much higher quality and more efficient that all the shit has been going in one direction. Anyway, a poster like that is bound to do the rounds of internal e-mail, and it’s hardly going to boost morale in the US operation.
Maybe it’s got nothing to do with ‘virulent anti-americanism’, it’s just based on the fact that US cars have shitty build quality, shitty interiors, shitty design and shitty gas milage?
When the Merc M class was built in the states they were notorious for having panel gaps you could fit small children through. There’s a Dodge Ram opposite my workplace that has a Viper engine (good) and cart springs at the back (good, 600 years ago).
PS: Ping pong balls. Now there’s humour..
The morons at DaimlerChrysler wouldn’t bring the Smart fortwo into the US because they said Americans wouldn’t buy anything that small. They cancelled the planned launch here of a Smart SUV. But a company in Santa Rosa (http://www.zapworld.com/) is converting Smarts to meet US emission standards and they’ve finally been able to ship them to distributors this spring.
Yeah, darrel, they are are not bringing the smart to the US?
Check out the cover of July 3 2006 Crain’s Auto news.