Chevy Leans on Mellencamp, Americana for New Silverado Commercials

Chevrolet will launch a new ad campaign Sunday night during NBC’s primetime football coverage. Called “Our Country. Our Truck.,” the campaign features a new song — appropriately titled “Our Country” — by rocker John Mellencamp and a slew of images that conjure up rural and blue-collar America. The final ads are as benign as Mom and apple pie, but both The New York Times and automotive blog Jalopnik reported on earlier versions they were shown only a few days ago that also featured graphic imagery of 9/11 and nuclear explosions that ad execs said showed off both the good and bad of the country’s history.

Luckily for Chevy, the flub was corrected after reports surfaced online, and the ads will now feature just positive imagery. One can only imagine the outcry that would follow a car company trying to profit using tragic images relating to 9/11.

There’s a whole other take on the nuclear bomb images. The online reports suggested a correlation between the bomb imagery from the end of World War II and the fact that Japanese competition is expanding in the full-size truck market, notably the upcoming redesigned Toyota Tundra. Someone at an ad agency somewhere should be looking in their inbox for a pink slip any day now.

Related:
$400 Million and Mellencamp to Usher in New GM Trucks
2007 Chevy Silverado Revealed

Comments

Be the first to see the ads here :

http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/ad-watch/ad-watch-chevy-drops-nukes-on-cutting-room-floor-203259.php

This is a great idea. Two washed up entities working for one another. I made the mistake of purchasing not one, but two, Chevy pickups in the past six years. Thankfully I was able to lemon law the second one. I have since leased a Nissan Titan (great truck) for three years and then subsequently purchased a Toyota Tundra V8. Neither Ford (I owned 2 F150's and will never again) nor GM can match my Toyota. Having fought in WWII I never thought I would be able to bring myself to buy a Japanese vehicle, however given it's my hard earned money, is built by Americans, and will probably be my last vehicle I ever buy, I knew I was making the right decision. With 33,000 trouble free miles to date I know I made the right decision. Besides my wife says this is the first truck she ever liked. Great job Toyota!

it doesn't really matter if it is built by americans, your hard earned money still went back to the japanese company...feel better about yourself now?

oh and by the way, GM trucks are way ahead of the tundra...for starters, its a real truck, not a woman truck, so that speaks for your wife's liking in it...and 33K miles is nothing, my chevy has 300k and absolutely no troubles, just usual wear and tear replacements like batteries and alternators..the transmission still has no problems!!! leave the cheap pathedic economy cars to the japanese and the REAL cars and trucks to the americans...

Let's get real here people. I have owned no less than 6 GM vechicles and all have easly gone over 100,000 mi trouble free - no repairs to engines or transmissions. 3 I have driven over 260,000 still with original trannys and NO engine work what-so-ever. My japanese loving friends all sound like "Bill" above and they boast how reliable their vechicles are - until you start asking questions.

Then the stories change. Like water pumps replaced at 50k on Civics. 2 trannys replaced in their Odysessy BEFORE 100,000! Toyotas with engine oil sludge probs which the honorable "Toy" company left 'em high and dry.... Need I go on?

My Point? Is GM Flawless? NO But neither are the imports. All have made crap and most all companys have had good reliable cars and trucks too. But, honestly, unless the new Tundra is somehow vastly different, GM, Ford and Dodge are the ones who make the real trucks - trucks people use to haul things in and tow with.

Oh BTW - Toyota can wrap herself all she wants in our Flag, but she's still a japenese company!

Listen to you women whine about GM. If GM has such great products they wouldn't be losing BILLIONS. The proof is in the pudding. We all know how reliable GM and Ford products REALLY are as it's reflected in the sales.

The problem with discussing the true value of trucks with blue-collar people is they can't comprehend that we live in a global economy. Only the blue-collar folks rant about money going back to Japan. A typical argument made by those lacking education.

so you're saying a japanese based company isn't going to collect profit money at all...so where does the money go? certainly not the american workers or the plants...who's lacking education now?

Damn, sounds like a cat fight in here. Look, both Toyota and GM build cars and trucks in America with American labor, both are coming out with great new products and last I checked both are publicly traded companies; meaning you can purchase their stocks if you wish to profit on the success of the company. Even if one company does better than the other, I’m almost 100% sure that the most of the profits are allocated back to research and development, plant retooling, marketing, engineering, etc. so that when the time comes to introduce the next generation of their vehicle, it’ll be multiple times better than the last. That makes for a successful company, and honestly, seeing what both GM and Toyota are coming out with in the near future, I think they’ll be ok. Too bad I can’t say the same for Ford and their P.A.G.

Paul - GM is losing billions because they're still supporting the working who made their cars/trucks 30 years ago, not because they're not selling cars/trucks for revenue. Toyota on the other had can turn a profit because they don't offer those benefits to the NON-UNION workers that they're using to build their vehicles in America.

So let me get this straight. The union is in fact harming everybody? I thought they are suppose to help the workers with benefits, but not helping them to lost their jobs, right?

Larry? Please reread my post; it said nothing about your reply's topic. Maybe you were replying to "Jack".
And to "Joe": I'm just so glad "dat u r sew dam edginmunigcated" - may we all kneel before YOU (Man what an arrogant ass!)

Interesting how the last poster thought he was speaking to Paul's post but was rather helping Paul prove his point. Very common among pick-up truck drivers I'm sure.

I have a 2002 GMC Sierra 1500HD and I have seen the new Sierra and I can not wait to put my grubby hands on the new Sierra. I love this vehicle and will always buy a GM vehicle. GM will rise again they just need less bias reports from everyone else who has never owned a GM vehicle.
-r

You're right Paul, sorry. Reply was meant to be to Larry's post about GM losing billions, not yours.

As a Canadian with many longstanding ties to the US, I don't mind that most of the photos in GM's TV ad are of US locations, because similar places exist in my own country, for advertising purposes. But wait: Maine's Portland Head Light cannot be mistaken for anything else on this planet!

People from all over the world will tell you that nobody makes trucks like Americans. And Canadians manufacture many GM engines, parts and entire vehicles.

Ok...let's settle down. This is supposed to be an advertising section. I think the new Silverado ads are pretty good. I'm not a GM fan, but the ad follows the "American as apple pie and Chevrolet" credo. The Ford and Chevy trucks have been the sales leaders for years. It's obvious that their total sales would decline as more options are introduced into the market. There was a time when there were no full-size trucks from Japan. Now there are. By and large these trucks are marketed to families and people who need/want a truck for convenience or image. The japanese trucks can't compete as heavy duty work trucks for people who use trucks as trucks. This is why they offer things like a "car-like ride", in-bed locking trunks, bed-rail systems for "toys" and more feminine styling. This isn't a bad thing, they're just marketing to a different demographic.

Ford trucks have been the best-selling for 30 years because of their deserved reputation as the toughest truck available. This isn't just an ad slogan. An ad slogan can't translate into three decades of sales leadership. Ford trucks have been proven in the real world for years. In my opinion, the only other truck that comes close is the Chevy/GMC. Most of the other trucks are purchased for their gimmickry or image.