The use of Martin Luther King Jr. sermon to advertise the Ram brand during the Super Bowl has sparked criticism and outrage, and a social media storm that prompted Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to issue a statement to defend its choice of advertising.
Apparently not understanding what the media complaints were about, FCA says it has received all the necessary approvals from the interested parties in using words spoken by MLK during his 1968 The Drum Major Instinct sermon.
“It is 50 years to the day that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave such a tremendous speech about the value of service. Ram was honored to have the privilege of working with the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. to celebrate those words during the largest TV viewing event annually,” FCA said in a statement.
“We worked closely with the representatives of the Martin Luther King Jr. estate to receive the necessary approvals, and estate representatives were a very important part of the creative process every step of the way.”
Even with that statement and explanation, we are still left with the image of a Ram truck pulling an entire church down the street .
The rights to use MLK's words to sell trucks were approved by Intellectual Properties Management, the entity that manages King's intellectual property. They also issued a statement, saying they were “pleasantly surprised at the existence of the Ram Nation volunteers and their efforts.”
Overall, says the company, the Ram ad is in line with the integrity clearances and its message embodies MLK's “philosophy that true greatness is achieved by serving others.”
The Ram ad was voted by several media outlets among the worst five commercials shown in this year's Super Bowl. It stands alongside Coca Cola's The Wonder of Us, Groupon's Who Wouldn't, Coca Cola's Groove, and T-Mobile's LittleOnes.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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