It’s a valid question. I myself wasn’t aware of the ad until just now when I noticed someone had found my blog with a Google search for the words in my post title. And now that I’ve seen the ad, I can pretty much grasp the company’s intent. But I can’t say this is a good ad, and it certainly isn’t going to help GM sell any cars. Or is it?
The 30-second spot (actual title: “Earn a Living”) opens in General Motors’s Orion assembly plant where we meet team leader Matthew Rodriguez. One moment, he’s waving at coworkers and shaking hands. The next, he’s facing off against a rival ice hockey player.
Ahhh, I see. This must be one of those touchy-feely ads that humanizes the company by showing its employees as real people, right?
Next, we meet Reggie Spraggins, team leader and grill master; followed by Dayana Vallagran, mechanical engineer and youth mentor; and Amanda J. Williams, metal model maker and professional trumpeter.
Then, the slogan: “EARN A LIVING. MAKE A LIFE,” followed by GM’s new (as of 2021), anemic-looking logo.
OK, now I’m starting to understand that Google searcher’s confusion. What is GM trying to accomplish here?
Below: General Motors’s “Earn a Living” ad is set to the soundtrack of Andreya Triana’s “Beautiful People.”
Is this a recruitment campaign? Is GM hiring? Or was this campaign possibly created as some kind of pre-emptive damage control ahead of this year’s historic United Auto Workers strike against General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler parent Stellantis?
A quick Google search (fluffy mainstream news stories like this one are the only thing you should still be using Google for) turned up an article from the Fort Worth Report (“GM begins initiative featuring local employees“) that quotes John Urbanic, plant executive director at GM Arlington Assembly, as saying:
“At GM, we know our global success would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our manufacturing workforce. With Earn a Living. Make a Life, we’ve made a point to showcase actual GM manufacturing employees. This serves as both a way of celebrating the talents of our local colleagues and demonstrates the variety of full lives a career with GM can help create.”
So, definitely a recruitment campaign then, yeah?
A bit of digging on GM’s website reveals a whole page dedicated to the campaign. Overlaid atop a busy video showing GM employees — at turns working on the job and baking caramel apples, playing with puppies, and aerobic dancing — is the headline “Earn a living. Make a life” and a bit of body copy that reads:
“There are jobs where you earn a living. Then there are GM jobs that help you make a life. Let’s celebrate those who give their all during their shifts, and even more afterwards.”
The rest of the page highlights a number of GM employees — including Adelphia Lyles, team leader and dancer; Kari Kline, quality inspector and dog foster mom; and Marvin D. Powell, technician and chocolatier — and touts the company’s employee benefits: competitive compensation, retirement, comprehensive health benefits, paid time off, vehicle discounts, and career development.
Then we meet a shedload of even more GM employees before finally landing on a section titled “Strength in numbers” that links to the company’s careers page.
So, yeah, this certainly looks like a recruitment campaign. But the cynical side of me would like to point out that this whole thing may simply be a play to score more ESG (environmental, social and governance) points, what with all the talk of equity, inclusion, and zero emissions on that careers page.
As evidence, this Bloomberg press release from October 2021 titled “GM Is an ESG Play Now” notes that the company has positioned itself well for ESG funding due to its recent focus on electric vehicles.
Says the Bloomberg analyst:
“I don’t think there’s any question companies with good ESG (environmental, social and governance) reputations, good ESG scores, have attracted capital, and in many cases have garnered valuation premiums. There are certain requirements that have to be met. GM, believe it or not, it fits that.”
GM’s ‘Earn a Living” ad: The Cranky Creative verdict
OK, so all things considered, what have we got here?
Ultimately, I see GM’s “Earn a Living” ad as simply one tine of a calculated, multi-pronged approach to reinvent the brand for modern audiences (and earn ESG points and funding). Its feel-good message hits all the right notes for an American public captivated by niceness culture, climate-change messaging, and community group hugs.
To GM’s credit, this ad and campaign are not half as shrill or obnoxious as some of the stuff put out by other companies nowadays — but therein lies a potential problem. GM’s entire image is now safe and sanitized right down to that “Windows Word Art” logo (the particular blue color of which is meant “to evoke the cleaner skies a zero-emissions future will bring”).
One has to ask, is there any potential new car buyer out there who will be swayed by this ad? Surely, no one believes that there are not also good people who are gardeners and golf enthusiasts and aspiring painters working at Toyota and Honda and Hyundai. Or that those companies are not also fine places to work.
At a time when nearly every brand is bending over backwards to sell itself as friendly, equitable, inclusive, and environmentally responsible, how can any brand hope to stand out by focusing its advertising on those things?
I have to wonder: might GM employees, shareholders, and potential customers be better served by advertising created to sell the company’s cars?
I’m sure GM must have reams of research (or emails from Larry Fink at BlackRock) showing that its current strategy is the correct way forward. But I have my doubts.
Time will tell if consumers respond positively to this type of look-alike and sound-alike advertising that so many brands are now pushing, and whether or not that positivity actually translates into sales and profits.
Until then, it all gets a big yawn from me.
Cranky Ad Review rating: Two trite and hackneyed stars out of five.
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For a long time HR depts have been trying to put out “messages” that are supposed to make employees feel warm fuzzies. (Fair enough. Some value to this, albeit not much.) That effort has grown (like a virus) to be more political and woke, with the messages 95% of the time highlighting anyone other than a white male. Whether it’s marketing literature, commercials, intra company communications, the company’s in-house “groups” (women, inclusion, minorities), the focus is nearly always non-white-male. It’s not that, as a white male, I want the attention; it’s really just how disturbing it is to be exposed to the disingenuous and phony propaganda. I would think to anyone with a brain this is blatantly obvious. But it’s hard to know. This stuff can only be complained about in the shadows.
It’s really quite shocking when you think about it, JAK. And you are correct — it’s hard to have a frank discussion on this topic because, well, let’s face it, the world’s gone crazy. Some folks are all on board with everything that’s going on. Others are too afraid of being “canceled” to question it. And the few who are willing to raise their voices often find that their views aren’t welcome. More and more, these people find themselves banned from forums and social media, exiled by family and friends, and sometimes even fired from their jobs.
Believe me, my phone has quieted down considerably since I started speaking out about these subjects.
People need to wake up, but the programming is so strong that I am not sure they will.
Just another one of many annoying, obnoxious, irritating, shit for brains TV advertisements being produced by another one of the annoying, obnoxious, irritating, shit for brains TV advertising agencies! Probably the same stupid ass ad agency that does these horribly overplayed and godawful Liberty Mutual TV commercials!