General Motors Reinvention

I recently had the displeasure of seeing GM's latest commercial. Wow, what will they think of next? I am not really sure what exactly they are trying to convince the U.S. taxpayers (do we not own them now due to the federal bailout)? I understand what the company is trying to do, that they want to restore confidence in their brand. They want the customer to know that they are focused on being leaner, greener, and more fuel efficient. I am okay with that, I feel that it is a good idea. But a couple of things I do have a problem with.

If your company just filed for chapter 11 after receiving a pretty penny in Government bail out money does it really make sense to spend money you do not have on a new media campaign trying to sell the point you are being a more money efficient company? I understand you need to get the word out but I really wonder how much money went into building the website http://www.gmreinvention.com/ and getting the airtime for the commercial to run during primetime? It seems to me that maybe this is one of the many reasons GM is in this position in the first place.

"Let's be completely honest," an announcer says. "No company wants to go through this." "There was a time when eight different brands made sense," the announcer says. "Not any more." No kidding? I do not think anybody needed a costly new media campaign to know all of those things. Maybe I would have been ok with this commercial if the company could have been more honest. How about "Rick Wagoner ran us into the ground. Do not take my word for it, look how much the stock plummeted while he was CEO." I think that about sums it up.

"This is not about going out of business. This is about getting down to business." No, I have to disagree again. This is absolutely about going out of business. Ask any GM employee that cannot make their house payment anymore or cannot put food on the table. Ask any of the dealerships that is on the chopping block. This always seems as an attempt to distract the taxpayers from the frivolous misuse of OUR money.