Among Ford's set of "mock interview" commercials is one in which the baffled customer being interviewed by pretend journalists goes into a spiel about how he bought a Ford because they didn't take a bail out, and that's what America is all about. Baseball and hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet always sounded kind of French anyway. Ford ran this ad despite the fact that the official position from Ford has always been that they supported the assistance given GM and Chrysler, and despite Ford being the top recipient of funds from the green auto initiative (the same one the GOP targeted as an offset for disaster relief funds).
After seeing this ad, I wrote to Ford to say that I thought it extremely deceptive to hide behind a customer to throw political stones that they wouldn't lob themselves. As someone who has owned four Fords going back to 1973, I told them this ad made me less inclined toward purchasing another product from them in the future. Ford didn't reply.
Eventually, the commercial ran through its cycle and left the air, where it would have been forgotten except that now the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Darrel Issa (R-CA), has demanded to know why Ford isn't still running the spot.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., asked Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally for "a full and complete explanation of Ford's decision to stop running the advertisement."
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The letter asks Ford if any White House, Treasury or other federal employee discussed the ad with any Ford employee "at any time via any manner of communication" and asks Ford to turn over any documents connected to any discussion by Oct. 12.
Get that? Darrell Issa is so deeply concerned that the White House might have said something to Ford about their ad, that he has written a letter to Ford demanding that they talk to him about why they stopped running the ad. Don't think on it too long, or you could be sucked into a counter-logical vortex.
There's nothing like piling on actual government pressure to fight mock concerns over government pressure, and there's nothing that says Free Enterprise like insisting that corporations clear their plans through a House committee.