Chevrolet and Ford duke it out over Super Bowl Ad

I’ve checked out the facts, and it’s true that Ford and Chevrolet had words (some of them in legalese) over whether Chevrolet had their facts right in the end-of-the-world ad that ran during the Super Bowl. I spoke with the folks at Ford this morning and they clarified everything, including that attorney Lynne Matuszak sent a letter to GM Saturday, asking that they not run the ad, and that it be removed from every site on this planet.

GM says that the ad is a spoof with “the devastation and destruction predicted to occur this year by the Mayan calendar…giant attack robots, medeors and frogs falling from the sky.”

GM’s Global Chief Marketing Officer said, “We stand by our claims…that the Silverado is the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickup on the road.”

Not so fast, said Ford, who is the volume leader in full-size pickups — a position that it has held for 35-years. (It is the largest selling truck in Texas, also.) Ford said it has more trucks on the road with at least 250,000 miles on it than Chevy.

Said GM in response, “we can weait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologize.”

Since Ford has implied that it doesn’t need to have the last word on the issue, I suspect we won’t see any lawsuits from these guys who are always up for a competitive fight. For my part, I would rather see a head-to-head challenge, than advertising words at twenty paces.

I do expect to see Ford buy advertising time on next year’s Super Bowl. They have already said that they wish they had this time around.

So, what are your thoughts on the Silverado Super Bowl ad — on the up and up? Worth the multi-millions it cost to produce and run? The car companies want to know what you think.