The last 24 hours have been a strange one for Kawasaki USA. Yesterday, Kawasaki announced through a spokesperson that it was dropping its advertising support of Donald Trump’s new reality show, The New Celebrity Apprentice.
Then today, the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer did an about-face on the issue, releasing a statement on Facebook that distanced it from any political motivations in its previous announcement, and declared the departure of the company’s representative who made the statements.
The whole controversy stems from a Reuters story about Kawasaki’s departure as an advertiser on the The New Celebrity Apprentice TV show, where Kawasaki Public Relations Manager Kevin Allen was quoted as saying the following:
“Once we understood the concerns of American citizens, we have taken the approach of agreeing not to participate in the show in the future as long as Mister Trump is involved as an executive producer.”
Allen is also quoted as saying, “the concerns from our own customers, as well as the #grabyourwallet campaign did seize the attention of our executives.”
For those who don’t follow The New Celebrity Apprentice, Sunday’s episode featured the contestants competing in the making of a marketing campaign for a new Kawasaki motorcycle.
Those comments, and the press it generated, have clearly trickled up the food chain at Kawasaki Motors Corp. USA, as the company posted this statement to its Facebook page today stating:
“Throughout its 50-year history in the United States, Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A., its subsidiaries and affiliates, have remained neutral in regards to American politics. Recently published comments relating to The New Celebrity Apprentice and President-Elect Donald Trump’s involvement in the show attributed to a Kawasaki employee are a misrepresentation of the company’s position and the employee is no longer with the company.”
While Kawasaki’s statement says nothing about the company’s involvement in Trump’s TV show – past, present, or future – it does serve to sever the company from the statements made to the press about the pressures facing brands that work with entities tied to Donald Trump.
Asphalt & Rubber‘s attempts to calls to Kevin Allen’s company cellphone went straight to voicemail, while calls to his telephone extension at Kawasaki HQ were met by a message that the extension was no longer operational – presumably because of his departure from the company.
Interestingly, Hollywood’s Variety magazine brings up the point that with the episode’s airing this past weekend, Kawasaki has likely already maximized its advertising relationship with The New Celebrity Apprentice, making Allen’s statements about Kawasaki and the TV show interestingly moot.
Whatever is happening behind the closed doors of Kawasaki, the public facing side of the company certainly seems at odds with itself.
Of course, we probably don’t need to remind our readers that all of this is occurring just a day before President-Elect Trump’s inauguration ceremony – a polarizing event in its own right.
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