Honda altering ad depicting Detroit bankruptcy

Honda has decided to pull a scene from its latest national television ad that uses footage from Detroit’s bankruptcy.

Titled “Today Is Pretty Great,” the commercial starts off with a blues rift and imagery of the world’s sad state of affairs, including people protesting a bankruptcy outside of a courthouse. Although intended to be generic B-roll, that footage was actually taken in front of Detroit’s Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse during a portion of the city’s bankruptcy hearings, striking a nerve with some residents of the Motor City.

“They’re using our pain for their pleasure to promote Japanese automobiles while we are suffering in part because of the decline of American automobiles from foreign automakers,” Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the National Action Network’s Michigan chapter, told The Detroit News.

He added: “It’s absolutely a slap in the face to use that in a commercial to promote a (company) that basically has hurt Detroit.”

Honda blurred the faces of the protestors and obscured the court’s name, but that apparently wasn’t enough. In the wake of the mini-controversy, Honda says it has decided to edit the images of Detroit from the spot.

“The slight change we made to the commercial simply reflects our desire to remove anything that would get in the way our uplifting message,” said Honda spokesman Steve Kinkade. “The original intent of the commercial obviously was not intended to represent Detroit or the challenges experienced by the city, its people or our industry.”

Kinkade added that Honda has “operations and personnel in Detroit, so we very much want to play a role in the continued revival of the area.”

The ad, which promotes Honda’s latest Civic coupe and Si coupe, has been running nationally since January 8.

Photo courtesy of Honda.

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