Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
George Savage ·
Feb 7, 2011 at 8:48am
As I was enjoying the Super Bowl last night I was struck by Chevy's "We Can Do Better" ad campaign. Honestly, does this sort of thing make anyone want to buy a car? Shouldn't an automaker invest in making the best possible product and let individuals decide whether or not they want to plant trees or invest in renewable energy?
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Aug '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Absolutely. Why not build a truck with inside door handles made of something other than pig iron that break (repeatedly) and with coolant in the radiator that doesn't eat up the radiator? Probably they can't do better than what they do already so they need to hide it with environmental platitudes...
Dec '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Government Motors or Green Motors?
Jul '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
George, I was over at The Daily Beast the other day and I got a pop-up ad from some organization that was urging consumers to choose the products of companies that buy wind energy. Why on Earth would I choose to do business with firms so stupid that they would over-pay for a commodity?
Dec '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
George Savage: Shouldn't an automaker invest in making the best possible product and let individuals decide whether or not they want to plant trees or invest in renewable energy? ·
And what if your union won't let you?
I loved the BMW? commercial about the plant in the small town in South Carolina. It was really an (anti-)UAW commercial.
Aug '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
More importantly, what if consumers call them on their sanctimony? If no one buys their cars and trucks, will they refuse to "invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and tree planting programs"?
This reminds me of a discussion I had with a well-meaning and polite lefty a few years back. He claimed renewable energy was being held back because "oil companies just don't want to leave oil behind". My argument was that oil companies are not oil companies, they are energy companies; they naturally gravitate to the most efficient form of energy available to mankind, and right now that just happens to be fossil fuels.
My indirect proof is that oil companies are already some of the largest investors in alternative energy R&D. If solar, wind, biomass, etc ever became more efficient, you'd see Exxon go into renewables faster than Obama can say "we need a green revolution"!
If car companies ever revolutionize the technology, and come up with an electric/whatever car that gets the same performance as a gas-powered one, then they will be the new green sector. Until that happens... why should anyone care that they plant trees or "invest green"?
Jun '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Here's an idea, first make a profit, next pay some dividends, then if there's any money left plant some trees. I know, I know, way ahead of my time.
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
I saw that ad. And all I could think was to say, over and over and over again, under my breath:
"Just build a decent car. Just build a decent car. Just build a decent car. Just build a decent car. Just build a decent car..."
Accomplish that first. Then, later, when that's all done and done well, we can plant all the trees we want.
May '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
I can see the next generation of ads.... We ran our Chevy Volt into a GM-planted tree. But don't worry... our cars are so poorly constructed that the tree is just fine!
May '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
BlueAnt:
My indirect proof is that oil companies are already some of the largest investors in alternative energy R&D. If solar, wind, biomass, etc ever became more efficient, you'd see Exxon go into renewables faster than Obama can say "we need a green revolution"!
If car companies ever revolutionize the technology, and come up with an electric/whatever car that gets the same performance as a gas-powered one, then they will be the new green sector. Until that happens... why should anyone care that they plant trees or "invest green"? · Feb 7 at 10:16am
I won the same kind of debate with my wife (who was a "greenie" when I first met her). She talked about her hatred of McDonald's and how they only wanted us to eat more awful beef. I said, "They are in the FOOD business. If we like a different kind of food, they will sell that instead." Of course, I have won her over by pointing out McDonald's recent forays into yogurt, lattes, fruit and maple oatmeal, etc....
May '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
I just bought a new car. I have given my Honda Civic Hybrid with 152,XXX miles to my daughter. I drove a lot of stuff...the US offers paled in comparison. I bought a 2010 demo Prius...it was best built, beautifully designed, and I don't mind getting @50 MPG.
Didn't plant any trees though...(facepalm)
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Who wouldn't want a Volt of his own? Umm, well, most of us, actually. This $40,280, econobox isn't exactly flying off the lots. In January alone GM sold a total of 321. Feel that earth-saving goodness.
May '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
No, this "citizen of the environment" bilge does not want to make me buy their car. I don't care one reed about how much GM loves the environment; that's not their business.
I wouldn't buy a single share of GM stock either, if they are spending the dollars on planting trees. Their only concern should be making a return for their shareholders by selling automobiles that people want to buy, not frolicking in the woods with Johnny Appleseed.
Henry Ford owned huge tracts of Michigan forests not because he loved trees but because he harvested the wood to make bodies for Model Ts.
May '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Moral appeal is an old advertising strategy. I'm tempted to say it's probably still around because it works, but Keynesian economics and communism are still around, too.
What form did such appeals take before the green movement? "Buy American"? "Help us cure breast cancer"?
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Oh, and if the federal government can require me to purchase health insurance, why can't it, as a next step, require me to fill my garage with a surplus Volt or two?
Oct '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
I've worked in and out of broadcast related industry for almost 50 years. Thank God I have an in-place commercial BS filter. Didn't pay any attention to this c--p.
Work hard on honing your own filter. You're gonna need it.
Edited on Feb 7, 2011 at 11:04amAug '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Good God, man, don't give them any ideas!
It frightens me that the big legal restraint preventing this from happening is one judge down in Florida. Or, looking ahead a few months, Justice Kennedy.
Sep '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Anyone remember the "Green Police" ad Audi (I think) ran last years' Sooper Bowl?
Hey, the game was great but I am really sick of the ads. It's apparent that people who watch football on a regular basis are more sophisticated than those who tune into just the Super Bowl, judging by the deterioration of the ads.
I keep thinking Idiocracy (Oww, My Balls..) mentality. In case you haven't seen this funny movie it envisions a future that devolves into crude and stupid behavior. The #1 rated show is Oww, My Balls depicting men getting their crotches violated in various ways as humor.
May '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
I'm sure that by the end of Mayor Bloomberg's third (and last) term trees will be planted on the Brooklyn Bridge, ensuring a new expression for the duration of the Climate Change Error. I mean Era.
May '10
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Government Motors: I gave at the office. I will never buy one of your cars, since you became a joint venture of Barack Obama and the United Auto Workers, in gross violation of the rule of law. When you go bankrupt, as you eventually will, I will shed nary a tear.
You'll notice that Ford isn't spending money on this sort of thing, since they don't have to genuflect to their masters in Washington. Exhibit A on Why Governments Shouldn't Own Companies.
Re: Government Motors Has Some Trees to Sell You
Franco, I thought that ad was hilarious right up until the end. Then I realized that Audi was touting its product as a way of getting along with Big Brother rather than subverting the eco-statist tendencies lampooned earlier in the spot.
Edited on Feb 7, 2011 at 2:23pm