GM: "Winner"

First, let me say that it’s not that I DON’T believe in the recession, but I do subscribe to the theory that believing in the recession perpetuates the recession. In the same way that wearing a t-shirt that says “loser” makes you a loser. Oddly enough, this phenomenon only seems to work in the one direction. Wearing a “winner” t-shirt also makes you a loser, though to a much lesser degree, since it’s possible you’re playing the irony angle. The problem there is, if you’re wearing the “winner shirt” ironically, that means you actually think you’re a loser which takes us back to square one.

There’s a tricky relationship that exists between proclamation and manifestation. It’s not direct causality, obviously, because wearing a “sex god” t-shirt significantly decreases one’s chance of having the sex; while wearing a “bi-curious” significantly increases your chance of having some gay sex.

Therefore, based on the complexity and uncertainty involved, one really has to be careful what kind of message one sends into the universe.

As you may have heard, GM announced that they’re closing the door on the Saturn brand in 2011. Obviously, in the face of oblivion, they expected sales might just take a dip, since buying a Saturn now somehow feels like investing in an HD-DVD collection.

To combat this perception, Saturn’s PR and marketing departments put their heads together and took a shot at an ad campaign aimed at setting the record straight. Something bold and grandiose that sets the doubtful at ease, energizes the car-buying public, but doesn’t quite don a proverbial “sex god” t-shirt.

But at the same time, they don’t seem to want to make any claims they can’t back up. The result…

“We’re still here.”

Well played, GM. Way to take a stand.

Unless, of course, you mean it ironically…

--F