9/27/2011

Did Ford Motor pull an ad because of pressure from the Obama Administration?

I thought that it was a good ad. The Detroit News has this discussion by Daniel Howes:

As part of a campaign featuring "real people" explaining their decision to buy the Blue Oval, a guy named "Chris" says he "wasn't going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government," according the text of the ad, launched in early September.
"I was going to buy from a manufacturer that's standing on their own: win, lose, or draw. That's what America is about is taking the chance to succeed and understanding when you fail that you gotta' pick yourself up and go back to work."
That's what some of America is about, evidently. Because Ford pulled the ad after individuals inside the White House questioned whether the copy was publicly denigrating the controversial bailout policy CEO Alan Mulally repeatedly supported in the dark days of late 2008, in early '09 and again when the ad flap arose. And more.
With President Barack Obama tuning his re-election campaign amid dismal economic conditions and simmering antipathy toward his stimulus spending and associated bailouts, the Ford ad carried the makings of a political liability when Team Obama can least afford yet another one. Can't have that.
The ad, pulled in response to White House questions (and, presumably, carping from rival GM), threatened to rekindle the negative (if accurate) association just when the president wants credit for their positive results (GM and Chrysler are moving forward, making money and selling vehicles) and to distance himself from any public downside of his decision. . . .


The WP's Greg Sargent takes a denial by Ford and the Obama administration to be all that is needed to reject this story:

Apparently some right wing bloggers think they may have found their next big scandal: The White House may have pressured Ford Motor Company to yank a TV ad critical of Obama’s rescue of the auto companies! . . .

No, says the White House. “The Detroit News story is not true,” communications director Dan Pfeiffer emails.

Ford happens to agree. The company Tweeted:

we did not pull the ad due to pressure. the ad ran 4 weeks which is what the campaign called for . . .


Might a reporter with the Detroit News have a better inside line into what is happening at Ford Motor Company than a reporter who simply relies on statements from press secretaries?

UPDATE: The Detroit News doubles down on this story:

But the Obama administration didn't care for the free market message and, as my Detroit News colleague Daniel Howes reported this week, the White House contacted Ford to discuss the ad and the company has now pulled the popular spot. While Howes quoted an industry source insisting that there was no pressure to take the ad down, any such inquiries from the White House represent coercion. . . . The most obvious reason [for the White House concern] relates to the president's re-election bid. . . .

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