A Hummer of a Summer?

When Charlie and Harry, my two five-year-old boys, walked in the door a couple of nights ago sporting new toy Hummers, they were excited. When I asked where they had gotten the cool trucks the boys replied that they had come in their McDonald's Happy Meals.

Right then I thought, "Ahhhh, Hummers aren't selling and gas prices are high so GM hooked up with McDonald's to seed a whole new generation of drivers." Talk about advertising to kids!

While this was an uninformed hunch, I wasn't surprised when Melanie Warner penned Would You Like a Gas Guzzler With That? in today's New York Times.

Melanie got in right when she said:

McDonald’s decision to include Hummers in its Happy Meals is surprising given that the fast-food chain has strived in recent years to bolster its image as an environmentally aware company. It has also promoted healthier menu choices and has avoided introducing indulgent 1,000-calorie-plus items, as some of its rivals have done. The company has also earned praise for its work with animal rights advocates. 

So what gives? Well, it seems McDonald's long-term partnership with Disney ended last year and they are in need of new toys.

But why Hummer? The Hummer brand has come to represent all of the problems with big cars and their sales figures seem to show it:

Consumers have turned away not just from Hummers, but also from other large, gas-hungry vehicles. “People used to never ask about fuel economy numbers,” said Jesse Toprak, an analyst at the car-buying site Edmunds.com. “Now, it’s one the primary factors for many people in making car purchase decisions.’’

Sales of the H2, which currently costs about $96 to fill up at the pump, are down 34 percent for the first seven months of this year versus the same period in 2005, and General Motors has sold only 229 H1’s this year, according to Autodata, an auto industry statistics firm in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.

229!

Can these new toys really be good for the McDonald's brand? Does this relationship have the ability to rub off some of the negative GM brand perception from being out of touch?

Customers are waiting for GM, and those companies it connects with, to act with courage and grace by helping them lead better lives by providing them with relevant products in the context of today's marketplace.

It is sad to see an historically great company, like GM, lack this courage and grace. As I said in a recent post: "These days it seems like Detroit resembles the La Brea tar pits, a place where dinosaurs go to die."

"Mammals", like Toyota, will inherit the market by adapting to the changing environment.

Comments

[Nigel Hollis]

Hi John,
The only amusing aspect of GM's pathetic attempt to market their gas guzzler is that one of their own ads draws the analogy between the Hummer and dinosaurs (well monsters anyway). Much as I wish GM well, I hope they learn that they need to lead shape consumer opinion not just react to it. Let's also hope the Hummer dies a quick death and GM learns what real demand creation is all about.
Nigel

[John]

Death to the Hummer!

[kate]

Just as Camel brand cigarettes was prohibited from targeting youth, Hummer should be as well. Those trucks are just as harmful to the environment and public health, if not more! Hummer should be ashamed of stooping so low -- it was bad enough just to manufacture those monstrosities. I'll admit to collecting the McDonalds race cars and micro-minis as a child of the 80s, but we live in a different world today and the Hummer is a whole other beast...

[Lesa]

qantza At last, someone comes up with the "right" answer!

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Sono sempre indagando online per consigli che mi può beneficiare. Grazie www.johnwinsor.com

[Favour]

The bigger, heaevir Ford Expedition is more analogous to the Hummer. The '06 model is rated 14 mpg at Edmund's site. I take that to be combined city/highway.Demeur, you're right about the good features of cash for clunkers. It kills at least three birds with one stone. It's a decent investment.My one concern, which no one else seems to have thought of, is that dealers have mostly been selling off stagnant inventory. That's good, of course.However, if factories now step up production, with unemployment still nipping at 10 percent (or more), manufacturers and dealers will soon find themselves with inventory backing up again. That's not good.The key to restoring the economy, the automotive industry included, is getting unemployment back down to 4.5 percent or less. Cash for clunkers might help a little, but only a little and only temporarily.

[Octa]

This Cash for Clunkers program seems to be woiknrg pretty well. No wonder conservatives are slamming it. Not only do they hate it, but their Talking Point of the Week is "the government can't even handle the Cash for Clunkers program, and they want to take over your health care?!?!?!?!?"

[Seston]

Arictles like these put the consumer in the driver seat-very important.

[Dotty]

That hits the target dead cteenr! Great answer!

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