After weeks of controversy General Motors will this Sunday during the Academy Awards air the new and improved version of its Robot/Quality ad.
You may recall the original ad that premiered during the Super Bowl where a robot on a GM factory floor makes a mistake, gets fired and to the tune of Eric Carman’s “All by myself” ends up jumping of a bridge. While the ad was a dream sequence (and so is the new one) Mental health and suicide prevention experts were none too happy and have been howling at GM ever since.
The modified ad removes the jump and substitutes as a bad dream a GM car being ripped up in a scrap yard, but retains the robot employed in the same menial post-GM jobs as the original. Meanwhile those same advocacy groups are also targeting Volkswagen which has spot showing a man lamenting the high cost of life and about to jump off a building until he hears of the savings a VW can offer him. VW pulled the ad last week. Considering the financial shape most of these car companies are in its no wonder they are preoccupied with suicide, but really, enough is enough.
