GM CEO says more digital advertising. Chrysler linked to Cerberus, not necessarily Hades

The grilling continues on Capitol Hill. Yesterday it was the U.S. Treasury daddies, today it is the CEOs from the big three automakers. We just got done listening to the Senators from both sides of the aisle grilling the CEOs for flying to the hearing on a private jet. The argument being that if they are going to start restructuring their business and cutting costs that they should start at the top.

At one point the CEOs were asked to raise their hands if they had flown to the hearing on commercial flights, none did. Then they were asked if they would consider selling their jets today and flying back to Detroit on a commercial flight, not one raised his hand. The congressional panel just gave these CEOs a great oppotunity to demonstrate their leadership, and no one stepped up. Not one had the salt of Spartacus. How did they become CEOs?

The star of the hearing is Nydia Velazquez (congresswoman from the 12th district of NY) who just asked Waggoner, the CEO of GM, if they would be running a $3 million dollar (for a 30 second spot) Super Bowl ad next year to which he replied, "No we are not going to do a Super Bowl ad this year ...but we will be moving more of our advertising to digital which is less expensive and more efficient."

After more questions from Velazquez, Chrysler CEO Nardelli confirms that 80% of Chrysler is owned by Cerberus Capital, a company whose members include former Vice President Dan Qualye. As you probably know Cerberus is a figure from Greek Mythology. Specifically, Cerberus is the three headed dog that guarded the gates to Hades and was killed by Herakles (Hercules).

Is this strange to anyone else? Why would you name your company after the guard dog of Hades? Shouldn't an investment firm sound secure, innovative and strong. Not scary. Whoever developed their corporate identity must have been watching too many Keanu Reeves movies, or banging their head against the ceiling too much, or maybe it was just Dan Quayle's idea.


Here is a link to Cerberus Capital's homepage.