The ad did cause a bit of controversy though with some people finding it to be too political. As expected with anything perceived to be political, a few other groups have come out to make overtly political parodies of the ad.

Rush Limbaugh ran a parody of the ad during his radio show that expectedly turned the ad into an anti-Obama piece.

Second City Network created a video parody that was a not so subtle attack on Mitt Romney, but it’s far more entertaining than the original ad.

Lastly, Reason.tv created a parody attacking Chrysler.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Eastwood never intended the ad to be political and is donating the money he received for doing the ad to charity.

Even if the ad wasn’t meant to be political, the parodies are definitely pushing it into that territory.

People have been making jokes about the original ad on Twitter since it aired. Most of them aren’t even political, which is surprising. Check them out!

Was the Eastwood ad too political? What do you think about the parodies? Let us know in the comments.

Some reports say a full-page WSJ print ad runs about $200,000, a veritable pittance compared to the billions chucked Chrysler’s way. The blog post attracted a swarm of angry responses to the thank-you ad, which is presumably why one can no longer access it.

The Consumerist credits the Digg crowd for the backlash, and guesses this is what prompted deletion. If Google doesn’t think you’re a bot, you can access the cached version of the post.

Here are a few of choice comments:

Way to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on a useless ad campaign that will surely only worsen your public image. We weren’t buying your cars before because they are all gas guzzling, unreliable, uninteresting cars that look like they were styled by the coleman plastic cooler division, inside and out. So then you steal our money through the government so you can waste more of it on useless ads, and you have the audacity to remind us all about it. Go to hell Chrysler.

Clearly the move this advertising campaign was dreamed up and approved by individuals who has no contact with the average American. The problem with your company and that of many American companies is the ridiculous financial separation of upper management from that of the average middle income American. Your outrageous income and ability to choose to isolate yourselves mentally, financially, and emotionally from the consumer you serve has lead to the financial ruin of your company.

I’m boycotting you. My whole family is boycotting you. My mother and my father, my brothers and sisters, my sons and daughters. Just thought I’d let you know.

If it comes down to Chrysler or walking…….we’ll walk. I’ll put my kids on a mule before I’ll put them in a Chysler. Suck it, you parasites.

This will probably earn a page or two in forthcoming editions of PR textbooks. If the public is angry with you, it’s best not to remind them of why they are angry. It was probably a bad idea to enable comments on that blog post in the first place, but it just piles on the bad PR when you try to remove negativity from the record after the fact.
 

Before I complain, I guess I have to say a bailout of the Big 3 seems necessary and suddenly fair. After all, the gov’t (Bush, Bernanke, Paulson) was more than willing to throw money, lots of it, even if we have to print it, no questions asked, no oversight required to their buddies in the banking industry–the same buddies whose greed caused the problem to begin with. The executives at the Big 3 placed their companies at the top of a giant Plinko board and let them fall to zero. In a real free market, they’d fail and be bought by some (likely Japanese) company that had some actual foresight regarding things like, I don’t know, how customers like quality, how you shouldn’t need more than a decade to prove you make quality products again, how in an increasingly costly energy environment it might be a good idea to focus on more fuel-efficient autos. Yet these executives act like they were blindsided and not at fault. And just as they go begging for money from Congress, they launch expensive ad campaigns on TV asking people to contact their legislators.

They’ve also taken their cause to the Web: Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, asking people to support them.

Truth is we don’t have a lot of choice but to support these idiots. Not supporting them means lots and lots of American workers and communities suffer, which is why it’s so surprising the gov’t has been so reluctant. Seems like when a bailout could benefit the working class, suddenly socialism is just plain evil instead of being a necessary evil like when corrupt bankers take down the entire planet’s economy. I say let the gray-suit, short-sighted executive class fall into their self-generated greed-holes and learn what it’s like to make a living like the rest of us. I say secure those mortgages from the renegotiated bottom up, suspend property taxes, and let that money trickle up for a change. I say if we’re going socialist–are we really?–then go socialist where it counts, where it was meant to help, amongst the proletariat.

But then again, nobody’s put me in charge of anything, have they?

PS. Might want to actually level the playing field in Asia, especially Japan, where we still can’t export American cars.

 Chrysler Adding In-Car Internet Access

Yes, "cool factor" aside, Chrysler appears to be satisfying a demand that didn’t widely exist by adding access to some cars later this year.  Exact dates and pricing information remain unavailable, but Bloomberg News reports, "The technology will allow passengers to search Web pages using signals from mobile phone towers.  Consumers initially would need a subscription to a wireless phone carrier to ensure uninterrupted coverage."

Consumers will probably need to put their cars in "park," as well, in order to access the Internet, but until this or another safety precaution is explained, onlookers remain cautious.  People seem to be getting in enough traffic accidents thanks to food and cell phones, never mind online games and porn.

Still, if either Chrysler or this feature becomes popular enough (since Chrysler as a whole isn’t doing so well), other automakers can be expected to copy the move.  BMW’s already performing similar feats in Germany, so it’s not as if the technology is locked away within just one company.

Somewhere out there, advertisers and injury lawyers are salivating at the prospect of its spread.  We’ll see what happens.

Up until now, discussions usually centered on Google, the death of print, or returns on investment.  Or the effects, and never mind the causes, of online ads doing well – like some sort of "it’ll be okay" mantra backed up by statistics.

Yet Josh Catone notes, "As the strike drags on, and original primetime TV content dries up, advertisers may begin to jump ship for other mediums.  Chrysler, the third-largest automaker in the US, already has, choosing to run ads on sports and the Internet instead of primetime television."

Admittedly, Chrysler hasn’t been much of a trendsetter in recent years (and since it was bought by Cerberus, nobody’s sure what’s going on).  Still, it seems like a logical conclusion that other companies will follow, and that a recession will hit Web advertising less hard than many other segments.

Of course, there’s still a glimmer of a chance that a recession won’t come at all, but that’s looking extraordinarily unlikely at this point.

Called “Voices of Chrysler,” the blog has featured several senior-level posts, including a welcome from Vice Chairman and President Tom Lasorda who wrote:

We will continue our strong tradition of communicating with our stakeholders, employees, dealers, suppliers, community leaders, and most importantly, our customers. That’s one of the reasons for this blog…We also want to start a conversation with you and keep it going, so please feel free to add your two cents in the comment section.

The invitation was greeted by 22 comments to date, including a few wishes for success along with some concerns. One noted that the new CEO, Bob Nartelli, was removed from his position at Home Depot where his leadership had led to demoralization of the workforce and customer base. “Please tell me that things will be different at Chrysler LLC. I am a lifetime Mopar fan and do not want to see a hacksaw job done on my favorite car company. Just worried, that’s all.” Another complained about the lack of lifetime warranties in Canada.

(The new CEO’s name is spelled Nardelli, but I left the spelling as it was in the comment.)

Other posts have addressed innovation and a look back at the design of the Chrysler logo (by its original creator). There’s also an introductory note from Jackie Headapohl, the editor of the blog. Headapohl spoke to Toby Bloomberg and told her the blog’s goal is to “share the many voices associated with Chrysler that give it its unique “mojo” and provide customers a behind-the scenes look at our company.” Toby promises a full-blown interview with Headapohl soon.

So far, comments have appeared with each post and it doesn’t appear that there’s any effort by the company to filter out the negative. I may have missed it, but I haven’t seen any of the blog authors participating in the comments section. So far, the writing is a bit stilted and the topics are fairly broad—not unexpected for a brand new corporate blog launched to coincide with the launch of a new company. The blog should find its footing right alongside the organization.

Overall, though, launching a blog along with the company is a smart move, providing that window inside and the opportunity for the authentic voices of company leaders to be heard and for them to engage with customers (and other constituents).

One interesting note: Accompanying the RSS feed for the blog is a link that reads, “Podcast feed.” This leads to a 404/page-not-found, but suggests that a podcast is in the works.

Comments

Cars.com, AutoTrader.com, AutoMart.com, and AutoExtra.com will all employ that silly term.  They’ll also list every Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle (CPOV) that’s located in an American dealer’s inventory.  Want a real figure?  A press release stated that the agreement will result in “more than 20,000” vehicles being listed each day.

For a point of comparison, Bud Place, Chrysler’s senior manager of used vehicle sales and marketing, said, “Previously, approximately 800 of our dealers posted their CPO vehicles on at least one of the major search-engine internet Web sites.  Of that group, select dealers posted on more than one site which totaled about 10,000 CPO vehicles to search.”

So we’re seeing an improvement of over 100 percent – that has to make Chrysler’s new owners at Cerberus smile.  Of course, it’s possible that they’re the ones who dreamed this up; after all, Cerberus is already unrolling a multi-platform ad campaign, and the search engine arrangement probably took much less time to iron out.

In any event, “The New Chrysler” seems to be taking search – and its used cars – seriously.  Here’s hoping future Chryslers benefit from that attitude, as well.