Source: TheDrum
Auto manufacturer Dodge Ram has been heavily criticised for including the voice of civil rights giant Martin Luther King Jr in its 30-second Super Bowl ad – sparking a damaging backlash on social media.
The brand used a segment from King’s ‘Drum Major Instinct’ sermon to promote its ‘Built To Serve’ volunteer program, but many were offended by the icon’s attachment to the auto ad.
Dodge Ram wanted to stir emotions with the spot, but clumsily stirred the wrong kind. Controversy emerged around whether the brand should have used the sermon, and whether it had permission from the King estate. Check out the ad below.
As the online debates unfolded an edited version of the ad appeared online, created by the Current Affairs magazine.
Its video, ‘What Martin Luther King Actually Thought About Car Commercials’ took the Dodge footage and redubbed it with a powerful takedown of commercialism, advertising – and the auto industry, taken from the same Drum Major Instinct speech used in the Dodge spot.
The transcript reads: ‘Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets you into buying. In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car. In order to be lovely or to love you must wear this kind of lipstick or this kind of perfume. And you know, before you know it, you’re just buying that stuff. That’s the way the advertisers do it.” Check out the „revised“ ad below as well:
