It started with an email sent to the Chevrolet employees at their Detroit headquarters and warned them not to use the word Chevy in lieu of the far more formal Chevrolet. GM PR people added that there was a plastic jar put into the hallway there so that each time someone heard another use the now “forbidden” word, they would deposit money as a personal penance. This decision, they said, was simply protecting the brand image of Chevrolet, much the way Coke or Apple protected its image. The memo was signed by the President of Chevrolet and GM’s Vice President for Marketing.
Apparently at Ed Whitacre’s new GM, morons have retaken the institution.
Are they not aware that “Chevy” has been an affectionate nickname for Chevrolet for at least 80 years and is not likely to go away? Did these executives not know that “Coke” is to “Coca-Cola” what “Chevy” is to “Chevrolet”?
People don’t call their computers “Apple” — “Mac” being to “Macintosh” what “Chevy” is to “Chevrolet” — and certainly nobody calls anything “my Apple iPod.”