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Giving Beyonce a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette at the Super Bowl would be GM's worst idea ever

There is a rumor floating around the internet that General Motors plans to feature the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette during the halftime show of Super Bowl XLVII alongside star-of-the-show Beyonce Knowles and as the show draws to a close, GM will give the car to the R&B superstar – a move that I would find to be one of the dumbest marketing moves by General Motors in many moons.

I should start by saying that Beyonce is an incredibly talented entertained while also having a gorgeous face and a bangin’ body and while she would surely look just as hot driving a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette – giving her a car just doesn’t make sense from a marketing move. When GM decides to build a car just for Tony Stewart or when the company decides to give away a Cadillac to the MVP of the Super Bowl like Eli Manning or Aaron Rodgers, it makes sense because – honestly – every day guys want to be like those superstar athletes. When you look at the average Corvette buyer, you have a group comprised mostly of older men and when some of those guys with deep pockets see Eli Manning, Tony Stewart, Aaron Rodgers or Jimmie Johnson sitting in their new Corvette – some of those guys think “I want to be like that”.

However, I would bet that very, very few Chevrolet Corvette buyers will look at Beyonce sitting in her 2014 Corvette and think “Wow…Beyonce has a new Corvette. That makes me want to go out and buy one.” In all reality, it would make far more sense for GM to give Beyonce’s husband, hip hop superstar Jay-Z a new Corvette from a marketing standpoint as the people who look up to Beyonce and who want to be like her are most likely not in the position to buy a Corvette. Actually, I would suspect that most of them aren’t old enough to drive so the people who most want to be like Beyonce are probably as far from the Corvette’s target audience as possible.

What giving a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette to Beyonce would more realistically do is bring about a ton of criticism directed at GM from those who still oppose the bailouts. After all, the US Treasury still owns a healthy portion of the company and there really doesn’t seem to be much real benefit to be had in giving one of the richest women in the world a car that would very likely be the least expensive vehicle in her garage. Overall, this would seem like the kind of move that would lead to a TMZ video of Beyonce backing into a curb or something but much like other celebrity automotive follies – there just doesn’t seem to be any real benefit to GM in giving the first lady of hip hop a new Corvette. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not trying to say that Beyonce isn’t as worthy of being given a new car as any other multimillionaire performer but unlike giving a car to a professional athlete or a NASCAR driver as a major award, giving a 2014 Corvette to Beyonce simply isn’t going to sell any cars.

You know who would make a more reasonable winner of a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette though? The winner of Super Bowl XVLII’s Most Valuable Player award.

General Motors announced earlier this year that they would be pony up the huge amounts of money associated with the high profile Super Bowl commercials this year but recently, a GM spokesperson comment simply that the company has a “history of being involved with the Super Bowl.” Most notably, General Motors has provided the winner of the Super Bowl MVP award with a new vehicle every year except for 2010 dating back to 2002. Most recently, the New York Giants Eli Manning was given at Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport in 2012, the Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers took home a Chevrolet Camaro Convertible in 2011 and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Santonio Holmes won a brand new Cadillac Escalade Hybrid in 2009.

Now in past years, General Motors has discussed what the Super Bowl MVP would be getting so with the big game about a month away and no word from GM on the MVP prize – I would like to believe that the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette will be given to some athlete who could afford to buy 100 of them and won’t really appreciate the free car…as opposed to a pop star who could afford to buy 1,000 of them and won’t really appreciate the free car.

As someone who is a supporter of all of the American automakers, I hope that General Motors doesn’t mistakenly give Beyonce Knowles a new C7 Corvette is a defunct marketing move as there is even less to be gained with that idea than there is in giving the new Vette to the Super Bowl MVP but in the long run – having a well known NFL superstar will have more a positive impact with the consumer market than the sexy signer.

Click here for a look at the original piece here on TorqueNews looking at the possibility of Beyonce getting the free 2014 Corvette.

Comments

JML (not verified)    January 2, 2013 - 9:55PM

I agree in that giving Beyoncea Corvette would be like giving a Hell's Angel a Suzuki... I mean... give me a break... she doesn't even come close to representing that part of the American population that drives a Corvette! So... yes... it would be a huge mistake for GM to pull such a bone-headed move!

I do not agree that she is beautiful and she does not have a Bangin' body either! She can't dance and she is a OK singer... at best!

Jim M (not verified)    January 3, 2013 - 10:25AM

In reply to by JML (not verified)

Dumb move???? You have already given the car free coverage based on an internet rumour!!! If they started the rumour and do not give the car away it is even more brilliant. They have created more buzz about an upcoming car that all of the media will talk about for free and get the yea and nea sayers conversing... at a cost of $0.00

$2,000,000 for a 30 second ad or get your car onstage for the cost of producing the vehicle (probably less than $40,000) - plus all the free publicity.

Think about it.

Anonymous (not verified)    January 4, 2013 - 12:31PM

In reply to by JML (not verified)

I believe that she is beautiful and talented and yes, she does have a bangin' body. I also think that even with her celebrity no one can seriously argue that presenting her with a Vette makes any real sense. All eyes will be on her and not the vehicle. If GM wants to promote their car they would be better served by buying ad space during the game. The only reason I came across this article was because I googled Beyonce Knowles...

Bill (not verified)    January 3, 2013 - 10:26AM

I really believe GM wants to expose to the public the all new corvette for 2014 is the only reason they are doing this, what better audience than the superbowl where most households in the U.S are watching and especially at half time as a lot of people only watch the half time show and could care less about the game or players.

Anonymous (not verified)    January 3, 2013 - 3:53PM

I agree. Beyonce is not in the demographic that drives that type of vehicle. In fact I don't know that anyone would really believe that she would drive the car. Giving cars to female celebrities with Beyonce's type of fame makes no sense because she is always surrounded by body guards and drivers. Now that she has Blue Ivy there is no chance that she'd ever drive it and everyone knows that.

Joe (not verified)    January 5, 2013 - 8:38PM

Alright, I'm going to call you out as sexist on this one. What company who is failing wouldn't want to try and tap another market?

What would be best, perhaps, is if she wrote out a signature on a giant check and paid for the car herself on TV.

People would be dumbfounded. And any news is good news for Government Motors.