General Motors followed their recent spiral into bankruptcy with a shiny new marketing campaign. Featuring television ads and some social media engagement, GM assures us that the reinvented company will emerge leaner and stronger and smarter and niftier. Along with less brands and less cars, it appears that the only chapter they are focused on is chapter one.  Well, here’s a thought for GM.  You might want to consider that millions of Americans and Canadians are actually still focused on Chapter 11 and the billions of dollars that we’re coughing up to save a company that we’re not sure we really need.

So, before we move forward and put the past behind us and all that nice fuzzy stuff, why not give us a new campaign that does one thing: apologize.  Apologize for the lack of vision, for the failure to understand consumer needs, for the financial mismanagement and for the diversion of our attention, and our dollars, from education and healthcare and all of the other issues we face.  Imagine. A new campaign with no glitz, no shiny cars or ad-speak. Just a straight-faced apology from the company, along with an assurance that we won’t see you, hat in hand, in a few years time trying to explain where all the money went. A campaign like that might actually help restore some faith in the General. And, by the way, don’t worry about the cost, we’ve already paid for it.