I previously made only a brief comment on the "Chevy Blows It" post which you started but I, too, was ultimately offended when that "insert book/ad" fell from our new Western Horseman onto my kitchen table last week.
At first I thought the ad was going to take these blatantly offensive statements and conclude by making us all laugh at some tongue-in-cheek type humor! After all, what major truck company is going to be so stupid as to openly insult not only its largest new customer group (women), but also its major customer base (men) by making them look like they have no education or self control over the purchase of something as serious as a vehicle. Imagine my surprise when the "joke" just got worse as I turned each page.
However, I generally take the time to do some research before I react---it is an occupational hazard. While I might suspect that Chevrolet employs clueless ad agents, it was really hard for me to believe that Western Horseman would authorize such an advertising insert as part of their January issue.
The WH website has a subscriber profile. 35% of all WH subscribers are women. 78% of all subscribers are married. 68.8% have attended college. The average subscriber has a household income of almost $100,000 and 96% of WH subscribers have at least one truck. Those statistics tell me that the Chevy advertising campaign is likely to offend an average truck consumer, anger a Western Horseman subscriber and INFURIATE not only the women of endurance, but the men too! My husband is not some mindless, uneducated, testosterone-driven consumer who buys a truck based on some "primordial" masculine instinct. That image is even more offensive to me than the idea that I should be buying dolls, shoes or diamonds but not trucks.
So rather than preach to the choir, I think we should ask Chevrolet for the name of the advertising agency that designed this new campaign for them. If the rest of you read the blog information from Ms. Clark which Laney posted, you will see that Chevrolet is proud of this compaign, so certainly they will point out the name and address of its creator. Then, LET THE FLAMES BEGIN.
