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Chrysler's Ad Tells Consumers Its JEEP SUVs Are Special, Not Generic

My reading isn’t exactly up to date. Yesterday I came across this ad in the Sept. 17, 2007, issue of The New Yorker. The text reads:

“They invented ‘SUV’ because they can’t call them Jeep®.

“Jeep is a registered trademark. Good thing. No telling what kind of jacked-up station wagons they’d be trying to pass off as Jeep vehicles otherwise. Because sometime around the mid-80s, a craze took off. The era of the SUV was born. Fact is, we had them beat by a few decades. As soon as the mighty little Jeep vehicle came back from World War II, people discovered how much fun a utility vehicle could be. What made it perfect for the army made it perfect for having a picnic in the hills. Or a hunting trip. Or a snowy drive up to the cabin. And ever since, our vehicles have had a heritage of earning their name by getting the tires dirty and doing what comes naturally. Each is rugged enough, dependable enough, unstoppale enough, and agile enough to be a Jeep all-purpose, fun-making machine. When heading straight out into the unknown, it’s good to know you’re going there in a vehicle that’s been heading down that muddy road from the beginning. That’s Jeep 4x4. And that’s a heritage no ‘SUV’ can ever stake claim to.”

It’s interesting when companies use scarce advertising dollars to tell consumers not only to buy their products, but also to use their trademarks in the proper way. (See other STL posts on this subject from June 5, 2007 and Oct. 25, 2007.)

This ad does both quite well: “SUV is generic and not special. JEEP is not one of those ordinary SUVs. It denotes a special type of SUV, the original SUV, the one we make. It’s a difference worth taking note of. A difference worth paying for.”

Now, in the year since this ad was published, gas prices have spiked above $4 per gallon and SUVs have fallen out of favor. Chrysler, LLC, has bigger things to worry about than its well-known trademark becoming generic.

It remains to be seen whether Chrysler can address those bigger problems as effectively as I think it addresses this one.

Posted on August 24, 2008 by Registered CommenterMichael Atkins in | Comments4 Comments | References2 References

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Reader Comments (4)

Chrysler also saw to it that companies making the accessory products we Jeep owners have enjoyed since Jeep began, can't print "Jeep" on them. I talk of funny little decals, toys, and other stuff like T-shirts etc. This movement Chrysler has made has caused a multitude of long time Jeep owners to boycott Jeep vehicles and move to other 4wd vehicles- most likely unknown to Chrysler. Chrysler has no idea how this "suv" and the "Jeep" stupidity has cost them. Including my decision to buy toyota for our fleet vehicles just because of that.It's the American way of saying "Stop all of that foolish nit picking".
If you want to come down to it- Jeep didn't originate with Chrysler and we hold offense to them making an issue of it.
December 23, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterWalt
How does someone go about getting a "license" to use the "Jeep" trademark name and sell products with the Jeep logo?

This website http://www.allthingsjeep.com/ does just that and yet claims no affiliation with Jeep, Chrysler LLC, etc.

I would like to be able to do something similar, but don't know where to start. Can someone please direct me to this information?

Larry
http://www.4-the-love-of-jeeps.com
January 6, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLarry Morton
Sounds like fair use to me. You can have a site that talks about a brand without the owner's permission if you're doing so for purposes of critique, comment, news reporting, comparative advertising, and the like. Just make it clear that you're not affiliated with the brand owner and you shouldn't have any problem. Of course, this being the United States, anyone can sue anyone for any reason. Complying with the law doesn't make you immune from a frivolous suit that's really intended to chill your right to free speech.
January 10, 2009 | Registered CommenterMichael Atkins
Another way the brand has been adjectified well is through the "it is a Jeep thing" campaign, meaning it is a type of thing and not the thing itself.

That said, the term jeeping, which is a verbing of the brand has been around since I was born. People don't say they are going toyoting or willysing or scouting or SUVing. The closest synonym might be 4bying. Most often, people with SUVs go Jeeping and have for decades, making jeeping a generic term for four wheel drive excursions. I would suspect if someone went after Chrysler about this, they might have a strong case that the brand was genericized long ago (not that I have any interest in it happening, I just think it's interesting). It's an interesting discussion ... thanks for having it.

- Dave
November 12, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Eilers

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