A couple weeks ago Chevy launched a site as a promotional tie-in with The Apprentice looking for consumers to create commercials for the new Chevy Tahoe. Users were given some audio and video collateral to work with and given the opportunity to piece them together as they saw fit.  Well I don't think they quite anticipated what might result from giving the kids the keys to the car, so to speak. At least three examples have been found of ads that use the Tahoe as background for rants against the war in Iraq, the dependence of the U.S. on foreign oil and more. 

The problem Chevy now finds themselves with is that these ads were created on their site using their content. This isn't something that was edited together at home and uploaded to YouTube. This is part of the Chevy Apprentice promotion for good or for ill. So what's Chevy to do? Do they leave the ads there and continue to take their lumps on snarky blogs or do they take them down and then be accused of censorship? it's a tough spot and points to a problem some companies are having with citizen-generated content: it doesn't always play by the established marketing book.

It's better, to my mind, to embrace and acknowledge the good work people are doing on their own, independent of corporately-sanctioned stuff like this. Let passionate users know you here them and that they've contributed to the success of their favorite brand in their own small way. And if something isn't appropriate the company can simply ignore it or at least engage in a conversation about any misinformation the creator might be operating with. Chevy is in a bind because it's on their site and part of their promotion. By not worrying about giving people an outlet - they already have that - and focusing more on what's already out there companies can avoid these embarrassing binds in the future.

[via A Perfectly Cromulent Blog]