Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Hypocrite or Truth Teller? Ford's Cancelled Bailout Commercial




Close to 600,000 vehicles were purchased by consumers two years ago under the Obama's administration widely successful 'Cash for Clunkers' program, which provided upwards of $4,500 encouraging consumers to trade-in their gas guzzler for a fuel-efficient vehicle. Ford Motor Company, who recently ran the questionable government bailout ad, which some critics say were pulled as a result of the heat that they may (or may not) have received from the Obama administration makes the automaker seem like a hypocrite.

In our opinion, we believe that it was a poor move on the senior officials of Ford Motor Company and their ad agency to run this commercial. Obviously, they must have experienced sudden amnesia. The automaker selectively forgot how they personally benefited from the government-sponsored 'Cash for Clunkers' program that steered 90,154 new-vehicle sales in their direction, according to CARS.gov. In fact, Ford Motor Company sales during the 'Cash for Clunkers Sales' represented approximately 15.6% of total sales during the program period. Ford Motor Company was only second to Toyota Motor Sales, which garnered 120,000 sales from the government-funded program. These government induced sales helped to keep the plants running and folks employed.

So, who is the real hypocrite Ford Motor Company or as some critics are alleging, the Obama administration, for forcing the automaker to pull the ad? You decide. We are just laying out the facts. In our opinion, if Ford Motor Company was planning on running such an ad this should have been done at the time the government was deciding, if they were going to save both Chrysler and GM.

Also Ford Motor Company like the other Detroit-based automakers have received assistance from the government for plant upgrades, assistance in building hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles.

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