Dodge Ram MLK Ad Tells Us Something About Changes in Auto Industry
“Was it a complete fiasco or were they trying to do something right?”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
During the Super Bowl, Dodge Ram ran an emotional advertisement featuring their hulking trucks alongside images of Americans of all ages and races being helpful and devoting themselves in service.
Over these images was a segment of “The Drum Major Instinct,” a powerful speech by Martin Luther King Jr. Almost immediately, people took to social media criticizing the commercial.
The language in the commercial is powerful. But should those powerful words be used to sell pickup trucks?
Paul Eisenstein, publisher of The Detroit Bureau, speaks with Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson about Dodge’s decision to use Dr. King’s word in their advertisement.
“It rang sour,” says Eisenstein. But he says it’s just as likely tone-deafness is to blame for the ad, rather than ill intent.
“Was it a complete fiasco or were they trying to do something right? That question is very difficult with this spot,” he says.
Click on the audio player above for the full conversation.
