Please stay on topic. These comments could be offensive to some list
members.
In a message dated 6/26/2013 4:30:58 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
jrawa@xxxxxxx writes:
I wasn't going to jump in, but Larry is on board... This sad society isn't
happy unless there's something to cry about. At the time, the LeFemme had
pink on it to appeal to women... Because pink is girlish and at that time
women were becoming, or were allowed to be more independent.. Cherokee,
pontiac, cheiftan.. they should be honored.. and I didn't know scottsmen were
cheap! I just learned a stereotype!
What should really happen is the govt should start liberal motors, have
cars named tree hugger, that secretly put out 4times more emissions, or
electric cars called the men-on-men, that you connect together by phallic
looking plugs to charge at night!
If only the minds of America could have individuality as they did when
fins were in...people need a good slap, but today you'll get sued!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
----- Reply message -----
From: "Larry Ashbaugh" <ALIENVOICE@xxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [FWDLK] ... and the Dodge LaFemme.
Date: Wed, Jun 26, 2013 3:53 pm
Welcome to the world of political conformity and correctness. Since the
name Cherokee has never denigrated the Cherokee Nation, nor American
Indians, I am surprised that anyone would have any concern with the
re-introduction of this honored nameplate. Maybe Chrysler's use of the name without
negative"stereotypes" will save it the righteous outrage of America's Liberal
elite, although I see some enterprising Lawyer somewhere approaching Native
Americans to help sooth their "offense" through a substantial lawsuit of
the Chrysler barbarians (is Barbarian an offensive term?).
The Cherokee name is a good name, a strong name, and a name that Americans
associate with solid, quality transportation for the family and for
occasional (or not so occasional) forays into the boonies for the fun of driving.
That noise you hear is America clapping for the Chrysler execs who made
the correct name choice.
Larry in Middle America (Akron, Ohio)
57 (2), 58, 59 Coronets & 60 Saratoga ForwardLook and many more Mopars
In a message dated 6/26/2013 11:44:04 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
x779@xxxxxxxxx writes:
When Cars Assume Ethnic Identities
Making its debut for the 2014 model year is a new Jeep with a name from
the brand’s past: Cherokee.
By GLENN COLLINS
June 21, 2013
Coming to a showroom near you for 2014: the first sport utility vehicle in
its class equipped with a 9-speed automatic transmission. It’s also the
first to offer a parallel-parking feature. And, in 4-wheel-drive models, the
rear axle disconnects automatically, for fuel efficiency.
Oh, yes: its name is the Jeep Cherokee.
Hold on -- wasn’t that model name retired more than a decade ago? Wasn’t
it replaced by the Jeep Liberty for 2002?
Yet now, in a time of heightened sensitivity over stereotypes, years after
ethnic, racial and gender labeling has been largely erased from sports
teams, products and services, Jeep is reviving an American Indian model name.
Why?
“In the automobile business, you constantly have to reinvent yourself, and
sometimes it’s best to go back to the future,” said Allen Adamson,
managing director of the New York office of Landor Associates, a brand and
corporate identity consultancy.
Jeep, a division of the Chrysler Group, explained that its market research
revealed a marked fondness for the name. The 2014 version, said Jim
Morrison, director of Jeep marketing, “is a new, very capable vehicle that has
the Cherokee name and Cherokee heritage. Our challenge was, as a brand, to
link the past image to the present.”
The company says it respects changed attitudes toward stereotyping. “We
want to be politically correct, and we don’t want to offend anybody,” Mr.
Morrison said. Regarding the Cherokee name, he added: “We just haven’t
gotten any feedback that was disparaging.”
Well, here’s some: “We are really opposed to stereotypes,” said Amanda
Clinton, a spokeswoman for the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. “It would have
been nice for them to have consulted us in the very least.”
But, she added, the Cherokee name is not copyrighted, and the tribe has
been offered no royalties for the use of the name. “We have encouraged and
applauded schools and universities for dropping offensive mascots,” she said,
but stopped short of condemning the revived Jeep Cherokee because, “
institutionally, the tribe does not have a stance on this.”
So far, marketing materials for the 2014 Cherokee model have eschewed
references to, or portrayals of, American Indians and their symbols. That’s a
far cry from the excesses of past years, when marketers went beyond
embracing stereotyping to reveling in it. Indeed, Chrysler’s restraint seems an
indication of just how much things have changed.
For decades, American Indian tribal names have helped to propel
automobiles out of showrooms. Return with us now to the era when Pontiac’s sales
brochures carried illustrations comparing its 6-cylinder engines to six
red-painted, feathered cartoon Indian braves rowing a canoe.
Or review Pontiac’s marketing copy, which proclaimed that “among the
names of able Indian warriors known to the white race in America, that of
Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas and accepted leader of the Algonquin family of
tribes, stands pre-eminent.” Of course, the visage of the chief was
appropriated as a hood ornament.
Many other tribes were adopted as marketing tools. Long gone is the Jeep
Comanche pickup truck, sold in the late 1980s, along with the Jeep Comanche
Eliminator.
Certainly, American Indian names are still in the market: consider Indian
motorcycles, about to resurface under yet another new owner, Polaris
Industries. And Chrysler’s full-sized S.U.V., the Grand Cherokee, introduced in
1992 as a larger version of the Cherokee and still a market leader. In fact,
its success was a reason for the revival of the Cherokee name for a
midsize S.U.V.
American Indians have hardly been alone in the cavalcade of automobile
cultural stereotyping. In the 1950s, advertising for the Studebaker Scotsman
didn’t actually use the word cheapskate, but prospective buyers were
informed that “when you and your family sit in your thrifty Scotsman...this great
Studebaker body cradles you, your family and friends in safety.” It should
be noted, though, that the Scotsman featured cardboard door panels and its
hubcaps and trim weren’t chrome-plated: they were painted silver.
While there is no indication that the General Motors Viking was
discontinued in the early 1930s because of protests by outraged Scandinavians, it’s a
certainty that no automaker’s copy writers would dare write today that “
the development of the Viking car closely parallels the development of the
Viking youth in attaining manhood,” where “only those best fitted for
leadership survived to contribute to the strength and superiorities of the race.”
Moreover, in the Roaring Twenties there was no apparent feminist backlash
against the Little Jordan Tomboy. The cover of its 1927 advertising
brochure depicted a smart, stylish woman in jodphurs and knee-length boots,
clutching a riding crop. The purple marketing prose stated that “I am the Little
Jordan Tomboy,” with “a thousand miles of open road before my saucy nose.”
Also hard to fathom today is the Studebaker Dictator, “Champion of its
Class,” discontinued after 1937, when the rise of Hitler and Mussolini gave
the model name an unpleasant odor.
In the late 1920s, the quest for association with high-profile leaders led
the Windsor Autoworks in St. Louis to shamelessly place a color portrait
of the Prince of Wales on its 1929 brochure for a new vehicle, The White
Prince. Buckingham Palace was not amused, and expressed its displeasure.
American Indians have long opposed derogatory sports-team labels and
likened fans’ use of war paint to the derogation of African-Americans with
blackface. The N.C.A.A. has forbidden the use of nicknames, as well as mascots,
logos, signs and band uniforms that are “deemed hostile or abusive in terms
of race, ethnicity or national origin.”
In 1994, St. John’s University in New York changed the name of its sports
teams from the Redmen to the Red Storm. Also gone are the Miami Redskins
and the Marquette University Warriors; the Southeastern Oklahoma State
University Savages are now the Savage Storm.
The Washington Redskins have resisted; so have the Atlanta Braves,
opposing a name change or the discontinuation of its tomahawk chop. But the Braves’
team mascots, Chief Noc-A-Homa and Princess Win-A-Lotta, have been
remaindered.
Even aside from the use of an American Indian tribal name in the Jeep
Cherokee, the risks are high in the introduction of any vehicle. Automobile
experts estimate the cost of renewing a nameplate like Jeep Cherokee at more
than $50 million.
Why, given these risks, return to a discontinued brand? “Coming up with
new names is very expensive these days,” said Mr. Adamson, the brand
consultant, explaining that trademark research, focus groups and legal due
diligence can be costly. The growing quest for viable names -- and the third-rail
of stereotypical labeling -- are possible explanations for the advent of
such hard-to-spell monikers as the Volkswagen Tiguan, and the growing adoption
of concocted names like Acura, Elantra, Infiniti and Lexus - as well as
the proliferation of alphanumeric designations.
“New models have all of these three-letter-code designations that mean
nothing to me,” said Stephen W. Hayes, a Manhattan automotive historian and a
collector of printed auto memorabilia, of nameplates like MKX, RX 350,
F-150, 328i, QX56 and GL450 that populate the auto world. “Companies don’t
name their cars as colorfully anymore.”
Nevertheless, “just the name of a brand itself is one of the most powerful
marketing tools you have,” Mr. Adamson said. “Automobile brands define
who you are, and Cherokee summons up rich associations.”
The Jeep Cherokee was a winner from the start, introduced in 1974 as a
sport utility vehicle with the latest gadgets. Recent market research revealed
that “there was so much passion behind the Cherokee,” Mr. Morrison, the
Jeep marketing director, said. “What was really interesting was that people’
s fondness for the Cherokee was greater than that for Liberty.”
Giving the new Jeep its old tribal name may have seemed just another
acceptable risk. “Names can be polarizing, and can cause controversy, so you
have to be careful,” Mr. Adamson said, but opposition to brand names has
become something of a national pastime. “Anytime you introduce a name, someone
will be upset.”
A name that has zero associations is even more likely to sabotage a new
model’s introduction. “If you have a name that offends nobody, then you end
up with a forgettable brand” that won’t cling to the memory, Mr. Adamson
said.
“So,” he said, “it just won’t be sticky.”
=Lou=
~~~~~~~~~~ **-=\/=-** ~~~~~~~~~~
The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity. Robert
Anthony
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