Jeep in hot water over ad
RENO, Nev. — The head of one of the nation’s largest fish conservation groups says Fiat Chrysler Super Bowl ads “glorified” the destruction of aquatic habitat in an apparent attempt to appeal to off-road thrill seekers.
It’s the second time ads by the automaker have drawn complaints since the Feb. 4 game.
Trout Unlimited President and CEO Chris Wood said Wednesday one ad gave the impression a Jeep Cherokee was splashing down the middle of a wild stream bed.
Fiat Chrysler is defending the ads, but says there are no plans to run them again. It says one spot was shot on a flooded county road and another in a man-made lake with a manmade waterfall on private land.
Wood said many of his group’s 300,000 members and supporters own Jeeps, but the images were upsetting.
“Fish are tough and resilient critters, but they don’t do well with several-thousand-pound vehicles driving over their spawning grounds, tearing up the gravel where they lay eggs,” he said. “Why someone would want to put out the idea that you should buy a Jeep so you could drive it up a creek is incomprehensible to me.”
The Reno Gazette-Journal first reported the ad flap last week. Pam Harrington, Trout Unlimited’s Nevada field co-ordinator, told the newspaper she was upset because she’s worked with ATV clubs in Idaho repairing damage caused by irresponsible drivers.
Stream habitat improvements are part of the decades-long efforts to protect endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest, where research shows river-bank disturbances and sedimentation chokes off fish eggs.
Wood said he didn’t learn until this week that much of his membership was upset over the Jeep ads. He said he’d already written a personal letter of complaint Feb. 6 to Fiat Chrysler CEO and chairman Sergio Marchionne after Wood’s son noticed the ad during the game.
Diane Morgan, FCA’s head of marketing communication, didn’t identify where the ad was shot on the county road that “experiences seasonable runoff” but said the other was on private land in the southwest United States.
The automaker came under fire last week for another Super Bowl ad featuring a Ram pickup set against audio of “The Drum Major Instinct” sermon delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago.
The 60-second spot included images of the truck with people helping others and hugging loved ones. Critics said it omitted King’s words in the same speech guarding against advertisers exploiting consumers, including: “In order to make your neighbours envious you must drive this type of car.”
Wood said FCA apparently “got some bad marketing advice” on the Jeep campaign.
“Hopefully something good will come of this and we can begin a dialogue with Jeep to promote smart use of off-road vehicles as well as conservation of natural resources,” Wood said.