Pitch for Jeep laughably bad -- Ram ad fares a bit better

We don't know yet whether CEO Sergio Marchionne has what it takes to turn around the beleaguered Chrysler company, but he sure knows how to spark a debate about advertising.

We hated a new TV spot from GlobalHue in Southfield, Mich., for the Jeep brand that has just debuted. The spot called "Time" isn't your typical auto commercial, but it is completely done in by dull visuals and hopelessly muddled, pompous voiceover ad copy that leaves viewers with no clear message about Jeep or the people who might drive one.

The tagline, "I live. I ride. I am. Jeep," is laughably bad.

A new commercial called "Manifesto" from the Richards Group in Dallas that debuted last week for Chrysler's Dodge Ram truck tries just as hard as the Jeep spot to do vehicle advertising differently. And it is a somewhat more successful effort. But with its rhythmic, heavily symbolic talk about the virtues of a Dodge Ram and, by extension, those who drive one ("I am a can-do spirit in a get-it-done body," for example), this spot probably won't sync especially well with the intended, down-to-earth truck-buying audience. But at least we were able to make some sense of the commercial.

The tagline, "My Name is Ram, and My Tank Is Full," sounds -- out of context -- almost as ridiculous as the Jeep tag, but in the commercial, it feels like a somewhat better fit.