Honda has turned up a novel way to sell its new Civic: Scenes from Detroit's bankruptcy.
The ad, “Today is Pretty Great,” opens with a blues singer singing "Today, the world is pretty sad," then switches to a sign that proclaims, "BANKRUPT," and images of bankruptcy protesters walking in front of the federal courthouse downtown, where Detroit's Chapter 9 proceedings are taking place. The faces of the protesters are obscured, as is name on the front of the courthouse.
Update, 6 a.m. Saturday: The ad has been edited to remove the court picketers. “The slight change we made to the commercial simply reflects our desire to remove anything that would get in the way our uplifting message,” a Detroit-based spokesman says in an email to The Detroit News.
“The original intent of the commercial obviously was not intended to represent Detroit or the challenges experienced by the city, its people or our industry.”
Then the 30-second ad turns happy and shows scenes of San Francisco, young hipsters with sparklers and new Hondas.
Joel Kurth reports in The News that the ad was produced by the RPA agency of California.
Calls to its spokespeople for comment weren’t immediately returned Friday. But the industry publication Adweek wrote an article about the campaign this week that said Honda was seeking to expand its brand.
“This new Civic Campaign connects with a new generation of buyers by promoting them to focus on the positive and consider what they love about today,” Adweek quotes Honda’s senior vice president, Mike Accavitti, as saying.
Accavitti has deep Michigan roots, graduating from Western Michigan and Wayne State universities, and working for years for Chrysler before joining Honda in 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile.
