The End of Shame?

About a week ago I saw a commercial for the Mitsubishi Lancer on television and guess what the tag line was? 'The End of Global Blanding'. Once I got over the shock of having heard this incredibly stupid statement, I then had to ask myself how they could have been blind to how inappropriate it is.

Firstly, it is a message that is almost guaranteed to alienate a large part of the female population (not that most automobile companies are that interested in their female consumers). Women on the whole are concerned about the environment and what global warming will mean to their lives and more importantly the futures of their family members. Although there is some skepticism out there regarding 'green washing', for the most part women appreciate companies that seem to be doing something to help with the environmental crisis. Clearly this is not the case with Mitsubishi. Not only is Mitsubishi not doing anything to help the environment, but it is actually making fun of the problem.

Secondly, it makes Mitsubishi as a company look stupid and superficial. Most people want to buy brands and products from companies that at least appear to share their values. I can't imagine that anyone except perhaps teenagers would think that making fun of global warming is really appropriate. For most people, the personality that Mitsubishi conveys through the use of this line is 'trite, small minded and superficial'. I bet that wasn't part of the idea when they came up with the tag line.

I think that Mitsubishi might want to consider having a serious talk with its agency - at least ask them to re-think their advertising idea. I doubt that 'the end of global blanding' is going to help them sell too many more Lancers.