Chrysler Pulls Electrocuted Dog Ad

The image of a dog being electrocuted after urinating on a Dodge Nitro sports utility vehicle went beyond the bounds of civility according to executives at Chrysler. With a track record of spotty marketing, Chrysler's woes continue in the face of mounting criticisms from its dealers who feel that executive management is focused more on being hip and modern than communicating about the vehicles themselves. With the ad, designed by a firm in the Netherlands, Chrysler put its foot in its mouth, as animal rights activists found the concept deplorable and inhumane.

The Dodge Nitro is a new sports utility vehicle launched by Chrysler aimed at reigniting a very stale brand that is losing marketing share by the minute. A once proud franchise, Chrysler has come under fire recently with ad campaigns that failed to connect with consumers internationally. When Lee Iacocca ran Chrysler, the company pushed out new vehicles with ease and had a core audience that valued the Chrysler brand. Today, despite having some of the most desirable cars around, Chrysler remains a struggling corporation, with bad advertising to boot.

The campaign, Charged with Adrenaline, displayed a dog urinating on one of the tires of the Nitro. Immediately viewers see the dog going up in flames with the campaign tagline following. While not made for television, the ad was placed on YouTube.com where it evidently raised some eyebrows and questions about the message being conveyed by Chrysler. BBDO Netherlands, who designed the ad, had no thought to how such a campaign could be viewed.

To make matters worse, such an image could come at no more bad time than now. In the National Football League, Atlanta Falcon quarterback, Michael Vick, was recently indicted in his home state of Virginia for running a dog fighting ring in Richmond. With most believing Michael Vick would avoid any prosecution in the matter since the issue came up in a warrant in April; federal authorities pursued and received an indictment from a grand jury in the middle of July.

Vick has been accused of running a rather large dog fighting setup that included under-performing dogs being electrocuted, hung, or smashed in the head to death. With several men opting to testify against Michael Vick for reduced terms, Vick and the Atlanta Falcons face an uncertain future with training camp starting on the 26^th of July.

The same uncertainty that Michael Vick feels, Chrysler is bearing. Last summer, Chrysler launched a campaign for its Dodge Caliber hatchback. In one of the advertisements, a fairy turns a stout, well-built man with one dog into a dog-loving, simple man with pink leashes. The campaign entitled, 'Anything But Cute', created a major stir for dealers who want the automaker to push the technical and mechanical benefits of the Chrysler vehicles more than anything else. Gay and Lesbian groups protested the ad and Chrysler will be under similar scrutiny this year. In spite of the fact that they have pulled the ad from YouTube.com.

In a statement released after the ad was pulled, Chrysler stated how disappointed it was that BBDO Netherlands created such an ad that missed the focus of the campaign. With Chrysler looking to advance its Market Performance Centers, hip and cool were not the take-aways the Chrysler Group sought. However, one has a hard time believing that Chrysler was completely aloof of the scope of the campaign. That leaves you to believe that with the Michael Vick charges going on and this issue being a hot-button one, Chrysler had little choice but to rescind the ad and have it removed from the Internet servers.

What is not yet known is if others downloaded the ad and made it available through alternative websites. Which is certainly likely? Irregardless of if the ad is on other sites or not, the reality is that some very creative people thought Europe would connect with a dog being electrocuted after urinating on one of the tires of the Nitro. Maybe its cool, maybe its not. We will never know. What we do know is the ad was inappropriate, vile and missed the mark of conveying innovation and performance of the Chrysler vehicles. Everything else was and is, uncivilized.