Remember when jeep sold a "comanche eliminator"
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Jeep says they honor native tribes with names. I'm not so sure it isn't exploitation. Anyway listen to the Cherokee Chief talk about this.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/22/business/jeep-cherokee-name-trnd/index.html
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@italia It's not up to Jeep to determine if it's honor or not. If the demographic doesn't appreciate the "honor" then they should determine how to resolve the issue. I was actually thinking about this yesterday when I was unnecessary motorcycle shopping at Indian Motorcycles website. They have the chief in their logo which is all over their bike. I wasn't sure if using those images is honorable or marketing.
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@italia The names are going to be changed, Stellantis can't argue against that - this is one hashtag campaign away from a mass boycott, they need to choose their next move carefully, and there's really only one option. Any delay or hemming and hawing is just going to do more damage to them, just do it now and avoid that whole mess, because we all know it's going to happen anyway.
Fortunately, I guess they can always just go with Liberty and Grand Liberty, or something.
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@ranwhenparked yeah pretty sure if the Cherokee Chief says it's not cool that is definitive even if it's not a negative character like chief wahoo.
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@italia yeah, this is the head of the Cherokee government here, that's a bit more official than some Facebook poll.
Unless, maybe they can find a tribe that would be willing to license their name for money, and rename the models after them in exchange for royalties or a college scholarship fund or something. Renew it every few years, so they can cancel it at any point if they determine its become offensive.
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Yeah. I've been having the stupidest arguments with people on Jalopnik over this. My "favorite" is the guy who keeps telling us his G/F is from the Pontiac tribe and doesn't think it is offensive, so Jeep using Cherokee is fine.
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@italia I don't see how it makes any difference. Auto names are supposed to help sell the car and if a name is considered no longer appropriate, it'll hurt the image of the car and some people won't buy it. It's a simple math equation for Stellantis.
For me, I don't care either way about the name, but it's frankly absurd to consider that you know more about what's offensive than the people who actually have a reason to be offended. We all know what the name is supposed to conjure up images of, but given that's a gross oversimplification of a culture, that use of the name isn't justifiable.
I think most of us can agree this is not a hill to die on and that the Cherokee People should be able to determine they don't like their name being used to sell SUVs. Now what should Jeep name their cars instead? I think they should dig into the history books and maybe pull out Honcho again. They've also got Knight, Scrambler (no, I don't care if it's an SUV), and even Kaiser if they want to go way back.
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@whoistheleader is Mohave a tribe? Also did you watch the video I posted?
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@pixel although Pontiac used Native imagery in its marketing, the brand was actually named more directly after the city of Pontiac, Michigan, where the Oakland division was headquartered. Of course, the city was named after the tribe, though.
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@italia Sorry, posted the comment before I had finished. I got the first few seconds of the video then nothing. As I understand it it's more about using their name to sell things.
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@italia said in Remember when jeep sold a "comanche eliminator":
Anyway listen to the Cherokee Chief talk about this.
I have an idea! They can rename it to Libertarian, Libertarian Chief or Grand Libertarian!
And they can have some new trim levels... like the Atlas trim level... and the Ayn Rand 'designer' trim!
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@italia The United States military does the same thing with helicopters. Yes, the same US military that helped commit genocide against many tribes.
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@manwich said in Remember when jeep sold a "comanche eliminator":
@italia said in Remember when jeep sold a "comanche eliminator":
Anyway listen to the Cherokee Chief talk about this.
I have an idea! They can rename it to Libertarian, Libertarian Chief or Grand Libertarian!
And they can have some new trim levels... like the Atlas trim level... and the Ayn Rand 'designer' trim!
I wonder how well the Jeep Whitey would sell.
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@dipodomysdeserti said in Remember when jeep sold a "comanche eliminator":
I wonder how well the Jeep Whitey would sell.
Well it should be okay as long as they offer a 'blackface' package, right? RIGHT?
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@dipodomysdeserti Cherokee is a proper name though, not a derogatory nickname, even if being misappropriated in this case. A better comparison would probably be if they renamed them after a European country or ethnic group - like the Celts or the Basques or something.
Whitey would be more equivalent to Redskin or Red Man (as in the chewing tobacco, which I'm shocked hasn't been changed yet).
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@onlytwowheels said in Remember when jeep sold a "comanche eliminator":
Traveller, Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer are available.
Letās hear what the descendants of the Donner Party have to say first.
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@italia I must admit where you wrote Cherokee Chief I immediately thought the Jeep not the person. I definitely understand where the chief is coming from.
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To be honest Honcho or just plain Eagle, omitting the golden part, would be great replacement names.
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@whoistheleader Eagle would make a lot of sense, frankly it's surprising it's been out of use for so long. Golden Eagle might cause people to mistake it for a prominent wrestling coach/murderer though.
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@classicdatsundebate said in Remember when jeep sold a "comanche eliminator":
Donner Party
https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-donner-party
A Donner Party member murdered two people for use as food.
During the āForlorn Hopeā expedition, the hiking party included a pair of Indians named Salvador and Luis, both of whom had joined up with the Donner emigrants shortly before they became snowbound. The natives refused to engage in cannibalism, and Salvador and Luis later ran off out of fear that they might be murdered once the others ran out of meat. Indeed, when the duo was found days later, exhausted and lying in the snow, a hiking party member named William Foster shot both of them in the head. The Indians were then butchered and eaten by the hikers. It was the only time during the entire winter that people were murdered for use as food.bolded text -
@italia They need to bring back the "station wagon" model - that's what a Grand Cherokee pretty much is anyway, right?
Jeepster can come back too.
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@whoistheleader those both look so cool.
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@ranwhenparked I think Jeep Gun and Gun Freedom would work.
