Piss Off China To Please Europe
Blogging for China asks a great question in its post, "Is Fiat Too Clever?" The question posed is whether Fiat used Richard Gere (of acting and T1b*t fame) in its ad to garner publicity and EU love? All seems very plausible to me, except might not Fiat's apology itself engender EU anger?
What do you think? Fiat's Gere ad, marketing genius or just plain stupid?
Comments (4)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endDaniel - June 27, 2008 12:30 PM
Fiat's actions seem quite confusing. I'm guessing there was a lot of talk about this within the company and other consultants before, during and after the ad was run.
Charles Frith - June 29, 2008 8:03 AM
Fiat knew exactly what they were doing. The End.
Nicholas Cameron - June 30, 2008 6:32 PM
Given that the ad was for the EU market and not China it really does not say anything negative about China. In any regard, it is certainly more memorable than other car ads that all seem the same.
Smart move for Fiat.
Charles Liu - July 11, 2008 4:01 PM
Agree with above. The ad didn't strike me as a commentary on China as it is on Hollywood re the hand prints.