Hey GM:

There was once a pretty successful advertising guy. His name was David Ogilvy. He said a lot of smart stuff. Including this: "The consumer is not a moron."

You must have missed that little bit of advice. Otherwise, I can't imagine you'd ever produce the "reinvention" commercial Jeff mentioned in this entry.

If these spoofs are any indication, looks like you're learning it the hard way.

Ogilvy also said "If you tell lies about your product, you will be found out." These spoofs are being passed around precisely because they speak so clearly the truths your smarmy commercial was trying to hide underneath a bunch of montages with butterflies. Oopsies.

Sometimes I think all the hype about new technologies and emerging media platforms makes it easy to forget the basics. But I believe the old wisdom still applies: Find the truth about your product and go from there.

Maybe the truth doesn't always work. But, hey, it seems to have turned out pretty well for these guys: