Jeep engineers work hard to bring vehicles that really work in the backcountry to the public. You see, Jeep engineers actually four-wheel, some of them, in fact, have four-wheeled for many years, so they know what’s needed for the trail. The new 2003 Jeep TJ Rubicon is the latest and greatest from the halls of Jeep engineering. With a beefy super low transfer case, Dana 44’s and lockers front and rear, the Rubicon is probably the best stock 4x4 ever introduced for backcountry use. Once again, Jeep engineers know their stuff. It’s too bad the marketing people work so hard to unsell everything engineering designs.
Over the years, it has seemed that Jeep marketing has made every effort to alienate the people who buy their vehicles to really USE them for what they were designed to do – get into the backcountry to work or play. A few years ago, at a training meeting Jeep Jamboree U.S.A. was holding, one of the trainers held up a copy of 4 Wheel Drive & Sport Utility magazine (I was the Editor, then), turned to a page that showed hard core rock crawling and said, “This is the kind of thing we DON’T want to see!” The ad people at Jeep would routinely tell our advertising sales people at 4WD&SU that the market the magazine was aimed at wasn’t the market they wanted to address. The market 4WD&SU magazine is aimed at is family, club and hard-core four-wheeling. What market DOES Jeep want to address, little yuppie rich kids driving their TJ’s to the mall? It seems as if Daimler Chrysler Human Resources has a requirement that to be hired into Jeep’s marketing department, you must know NOTHING about Jeeps or jeeping, be totally uninterested in learning about why Jeep has the legacy it does and have a real desire to destroy any owner loyalty current or former owners might have to the marque.
I’m sure that by now many of you have seen the ad from Jeep that’s insulting to yet another group of potential and current Jeep owners – hunters. Instead of me telling you about it, I’ll let this excellent article from The Federal Observer do the job . . .
www.federalobserver.com
| Jeep Takes Cheap Shot At Sportsmen Through Anti-hunting Ad
In Jeep's "Deer Hunter" commercial, a man drives a Jeep through a wooded area with two deer tied on the top of the vehicle. As the Jeep drives by, camouflaged hunters are shown in the woods, in close proximity to each other and the road, admiring the man's deer. The driver of the Jeep then crosses the road to a location posted with a "No Hunting” sign. The Jeep stops, the man gets out and releases the deer, which had appeared to be dead. The driver tells the deer that they are safe and the deer then bound away. In the background, other Jeep owners are shown doing the same thing.
"Although this message is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, it won't be taken that way by the 40 million sportsmen across America", said Wildlife Legislative Fund of America President Bud Pidgeon. "This ad gives the distinct impression that people who 'save' wildlife from hunters – and drive Jeeps- are the good guys. In reality the good guys are American Sportsmen. They're our nation's No.1 conservationists and they're the reason that America's wildlife is flourishing."
Jeep's spokeswoman, Diane Jackson, was unwilling to acknowledge the insulting message portrayed in its commercial. She says that the ad is creative and that it will continue to run nationally.
Apparently, Jeep isn't listening to its customers. A Jeep employee reports that calls protesting the commercial are swamping its switchboard.
"Sportsmen need to send Daimler Chrysler and Jeep a strong message that its anti-hunting sentiments aren't appreciated", Pidgeon said. "As an owner of a vehicle manufactured by this company, I intend to communicate my resentment about the direction that this company has taken. I'll encourage my friends and colleagues to do the same".
Contact Daimler Chrysler at: (248) 512-2992 or faxing (248) 512-1760. CEO Dieter Zetswche can be contacted at Box 218004 Auburn Hills, Michigan 48321.
UPDATE: Jeep has pulled the ad.
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