Healthcare advertising (my line of work), for all of its shortcomings, has one thing going for it: you can’t make a claim about a product/drug without hard-evidence proof to substantiate it. And for good reason, too. You wouldn’t want drug makers claiming their pills can save your life when there’s no evidence that they can. This is much different, for instance, from saying that a razor offers a futuristically close shave. Worst case scenario, you get a five o’clock shadow a little sooner than you would have expected after spending $20 on a razor.
I don’t have a problem with consumer product marketers and advertisers saying whatever they want about their products without proving it’s true. Most of the crap people buy at Target and Walmart is shit they don’t need. Getting duped is the cost of playing the hyper-consumer game. On the other hand, when I see a behemoth like General Motors– who is in the midst of one of the largest government bailouts ever–saying that they’ve “reinvented” themselves, without any readily evident proof of doing as much, I get a little hot under the collar.
General Motors and the other big auto boys are sleeping in a soiled bed that they made. When they came to DC (via private jet) with rattling tin cups in hand, their permission to behave like a normal consumer goods was relinquished. As far as I’m concerned, everything that GM, or Chrysler, or Ford says from now on has to be proven. Nothing can be taken at face value. That’s why I have a problem with the commercial that I’ve linked to below. It’s too early yet for GM to be saying that they’ve revamped their entire existence. Prove it first and then think about airing the commercial.
Here it is, in all of it’s 60-second glory.
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