Antibailout car

Ford Drive One "Press Conference: Chris" Commercial

Somebody Deserves a Raise at the Ford Motor Company:

Ford did remain silent about the rescue operation (for reasons I never found particularly compelling).

Fast forward to Ford’s Summer 2011 television advertising campaign, which includes commercials featuring Ford customers giving press conferences to answer questions about why they chose Ford. One of those commercials (this one, HT Gene Healy) has the customer explaining that he’d never buy a car from a company that was bailed out by our goverment, which, as it turns out, is a compelling determinant of demand these days.

In branding itself as the unbailed-out Detroit producer, Ford has politely ended its silence on the matter of the GM and Chrysler bail-ruptcies, in a very smart, respectable manner. And by using actors instead of executives to speak ill of the auto intervention, Ford keeps its own bailout raincheck in a safe place, should the inclination to redeem it ever become irresistable.