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NAMI StigmaBuster Alert: February 9, 2007

Special Alert

Update: GM Pulls Their Advertisement

Fight General Motors

Mental health and suicide prevention groups have been calling on General Motors this week to pull a Super Bowl television advertisement, scheduled to run during the Academy Awards on February 25, showing a suicidal leap from a bridge by a depressed robot.

In the ad, the robot drops a bolt on the assembly line, and is fired because of GM’s "obsession" with quality. He is unable to hold another job and grows depressed. Eventually, he jumps off a bridge.

In response to letters from several national organizations, GM has simply said that the company has received “more than a handful, but not a tsunami” of complaints, and that they intend to continue broadcasting it. The response contrasts dramatically with that of Mars, Inc. which quickly pulled an advertisement for Snickers candy bar, following objections from the gay community. Why the difference? NAMI believes it is the traditional marginalization of mental health concerns, rooted in stigma and discrimination.

See the GM commercial ** NOTE:  GM Has Pulled the Commercial and it is no longer available.

Read NAMI’s press release and letter

Read about the protest in USA Today.

Read Businessweek’s story about the making of the ad

Help NAMI fight GM with "a tsunami." Contact the company through each and every one of the addresses below. Send these key messages:

• Pull the "Suicide Commercial."
• Stop trivializing and marginalizing depression, and suicide.
• Provide a brief, personal story about depression, or about the suicide of a loved one.

GM contact information:

PR Spokesperson: ryndee.carney@gm.com

GM PR Contact:  nicholas.daniels@gm.com
1-888-436-6687

GM's Power Train Message Page
The ad is intended to promote GM's "enhanced power train warranty"

www.gm.com/gmcomjsp/contactus/contact_us_form.jsp

G. Richard Wagoner, Jr.
President & CEO
General Motors Corporation
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265

Phone: 313-556-5000
Fax: 815-282-6156

Stella March, National Coordinator
NAMI StigmaBusters

 To receive StigmaBuster Alerts directly in your inbox, visit www.nami.org/subscribe, sign in, and check the box next to StigmaBusters.

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