the GM employee discount -- who are these employees?

[Bill McBlueState]

This has been bugging me lately. Every time there's a commercial for the GM "employee discount for everyone" promotion, they show all these preppy, well-dressed white collar employees, all giddy that they get to share their discount with everyone else.

Where the hell are the autoworkers in these commercials? I have yet to see one featuring someone who actually makes cars for a living, even though an automaker like GM presumably has a number of employees who, you know, make cars. Are they for some reason ashamed of the people who do the dirty work necessary to keep a huge company afloat?

[bryant69]

1. Well, as it turns out

People who actually make cares don't photograph well. It's kind of sad, I know, but they just aren't photogenic. And we are trying to reach out to America and get our message out there.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[shadowknows69]

2. and they probably don't get the GM employee discount.

that they're lying to us about.

[gollygee]

4. I've known a couple of people who have gotten the discount

I don't know if it's the same as what's being advertised though. I wouldn't assume it is.

[juajen]

7. They get the discount alright, but

it comes out of the commission that the sales rep would ordinarily get. I have a child who is a sales rep for cadillac. New cars he sells, he gets maybe a 350 dollar commission. With the promotion going on now, that has been reduced to 150 dollars. He's having trouble making it this month, and, I hear, they are going to extend this promotion. After all, it isn't costing them, it's costing the sales rep. So, what's new? Screw the little people.

[gollygee]

8. Why doesn't that suprise me

that the discount would be taken from the car salesmen rather than GM.

*sigh*

[tanyev]

3. Probably the same ad agency that makes all the feel-good

Wal-Mart commercials. The rare times I venture into one, I never see employees or customers that look like the people they have in their commercials.

[getmeouttahere]

5. God forbid they look like....

real working people...maybe the companies are afraid that the welfare office will recognize their employees...not to mention that the real employees are probably to depressed to smile for the camera, what with all the bills they can't afford to pay without having a second job besides Wal-Mart

[DS1]

6. So far Saturn and SAAB have allowed followed suit

/pun slightly intended

[UAWONE]

9. GM

Gm retiree........ this is exactly the discount we get and some workers clean up really well

[Javaman]

10. I'm not a GM employee but I play one on TV...

actors are actors for a reason, they well, know how to act. The average slob isn't an actor.
I worked on a commercial years ago for puke mcdonalds, it was a paycheck and before I read fast food nation, they hired real employees to act in it. It was awful. Missed their marks, couldn't remember their lines, and mostly, couldn't act. There was only one person that was mildly acceptable. The commercial was retooled, then a week later we shot it again. All actors in the rolls of "real" employees. And the one real employee that was mildly capable was made a background actor. Just a fact of life.

[Bill McBlueState]

12. ok, then have actors portraying autoworkers

It wouldn't be hard to dress up some actors like assembly line workers, put them on a set that looks like a factory, and have them smile at the camera or something. I'm just looking for an acknowledgment that GM owes its survival at least as much to factory workers as to middle managers.

[Javaman]

14. That would be nice, but then you run into SAG issues...

Once you feature a person in a commercial, then it's a huge expense for the production company to pay into the screen actors guild to get him or her in as a member. Then there is and issue regarding SAG and why didn't a signatory production company hire Union actors. It's not black and white.
It's cheaper to have trained actors, that are members of SAG, be hired.
There are gray areas, but few and far between.
Years ago, there was the famous Union Label commercial. That was an easy issue. SAG backed the fellow union for garment workers.
However, AFL-CIO isn't friendly with SAG, because of the Teamsters.
There are so many things that go on behind the scenes, it would make your head spin.
I'm not saying any of this makes sense, it's just how it works.
The bottom line to any commercial, believe it or not, it keeping it on budget.

[BringEmOn]

11. Those GM slave laborers in foreign countries are just working to survive..

they could only dream of owning the cars they build...even with the employee discount.

[getmeouttahere]

13. Nowadays, many of the workers HERE...

wouldn't be able to afford the cars they are building