Re: [FWDLK] Tasteless Remarks and the Dodge LaFemme.

I would hope they don't make a klansman, as a half African-American and son of a Russian born Vietnamese disabled midget, I'd find that really offensive, but I think Neil was really putting out an insult to conservative American mopar owners on the list

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

----- Reply message -----
From: "Eastern Sierra Adjustment Svc" <esierraadj@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [FWDLK] Tasteless Remarks and the Dodge LaFemme.
Date: Wed, Jun 26, 2013 4:51 pm

And I was looking Forward to the creation of the Chrysler Klansman,
which should be of great affinity to too many of our members.

On 6/26/2013 1:34 PM, Jim Bennett wrote:
> 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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