It appears Harley-Davidson advertising has yanked the brand far to the right. In a full page ad appearing on the back of today's USA Today sports section, the American motorcycle company has chosen the risky strategy of embracing political speech.
The ad, whose copy reads:
"It's A Free Country. But Have You Felt Like That Lately?" continues in red and blue typeface over an image of a biker flying the Stars and Stripes "Has the torch of liberty gotten a little dimmer? Is it starting to feel claustrophobic inside the safety net? Do we still live in the home of the brave?"
The idea appears intended to stir up fears of alienation and feelings of working-class resentment most notably expressed by far right wing groups like the Teabaggers and Birthers. The ad encourages readers to go to their website and upload their own message about freedom. Clicking through the 400+ comments posted to the site, most of them are harmless reflections on the freedom of riding a motorcycle. But some take the a decidedly "anti" tone. Anti immigrant, anti government, etc.
It's a peculiar, and risky, strategy to align a consumer brand with political speech, especially at a time when aligning yourself with one side means alienating yourself from the other. But maybe H-D doesn't care about half the country. Maybe they've decided that only one kind of Americans are fit for their bikes.
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