Dodge Exploits Martin Luther King to Sell Trucks, Twitter Erupts

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream a very long time ago.

And we can assure readers of the following:

His dream was most definitely not to have his legendary words used in an ad for Dodge Ram trucks.

But that"s exactly what the car company did at Super Bowl 52, excerpting portions of the activity"s 1968 speech "The Drum Major Instinct."

The 30-second ad cost Dodge $ 5 million… and a great deal of negative PR.

It turned into a tribute to patriotism, complete with photos of U.S. Marines and a camouflage-clad soldier hugging his child. 

This was a pitch for Dodge Ram trucks" "Built To Serve" volunteer program, but the commercial instead provoked anger from many viewers and a rebuke from the King Center itself, which says its mission is to carry on his teachings and to "empower change-makers who are continuing his efforts today."

The mission does NOT include the use of King to sell a bunch of vehicles.

Tweeted The King Center during the game, as opinions were being voiced all around social media:

Neither @TheKingCenter nor @BerniceKing is the entity that approves the use of #MLK"s words or imagery for use in merchandise, entertainment (movies, music, artwork, etc) or advertisement, including tonight"s @Dodge #SuperBowl commercial.

Later, after writer Michael Arceneaux wrote on Twitter, "So that means the King children allowed Dr. King"s voice to be used to sell me a Dodge truck," Bernice King replied very simply:

"No."

Added Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University:

"The use of MLK to promote Ram trucks strikes many people as crass and inappropriate."

And Kelly O"Keefe, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University"s Brandcenter:

"They pushed it over the edge. You wanted to root for it because the cause is good, but it just didn"t end up fitting the brand, so you ended up feeling a little bit manipulated."

Do you agree?

Or is this much ado over very little?

Watch the controversial Super Bowl commercial below and decide for yourself:

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Allman Brothers Drummer Butch Trucks 911, "My Husband Just Shot Himself!" (AUDIO)

Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks pulled the trigger on a handgun and killed himself while his wife frantically dialed 911. The recording of the call was just released, and you can hear Melinda Trucks screaming immediately after what sounds like…

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Allman Brothers Drummer Butch Trucks 911, "My Husband Just Shot Himself!" (AUDIO)

Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks pulled the trigger on a handgun and killed himself while his wife frantically dialed 911. The recording of the call was just released, and you can hear Melinda Trucks screaming immediately after what sounds like…

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Butch Trucks Dies; Allman Brothers Band Co-Founder Was 69

Butch Trucks, one of the co-founding members of beloved group the Allman Brother Band, was found dead on Tuesday.

He was 69 years old.

No cause of death has been determined or made public, but the sad passing was confirmed by Rolling Stone, who spoke with Trucks’ booking agent, Page Stallings.

Butch’s cousin, Lee, also confirmed the unfortunate news on Facebook, writing this morning:

“My cousin Butch Trucks died. Great drummer. Good person.”

Moreover, the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival, where Trucks was scheduled to perform in May, left the following message on its Facebook account about an hour ago:

We are shocked and sad to report that Butch Trucks, one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers, has passed away at the age of 69.

We will repost the official press release when we get it. Sorry to be the bearer of such sad news.

A native of Florida, Trucks started the Allman Brothers alongside Duane and Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley and Jai Johanny Johanson.

The band struck it big in the early 1970s, gaining a large following as a result of an improvisational style that mixed multiple genres and instruments.

They played hundreds of live dates every year and finally gained a mainstream following in July of 1971 with the release of the live album “At Fillmore East.”

Recalling how it all came together with that album, Trucks said many years ago:

“That weekend in March of ‘71 when we recorded ‘At Fillmore East,’ most of the time it clicked. We were finally starting to catch up with what we were listening to.

“We had lived together…we got in trouble together; we all just moved as a unit. And then, when we got onstage to play, that’s what it was all about — and it just happened to all come together that weekend.”

This live album (which was recorded in New York City) went platinum and started a streak of popularity for the band, which included the following records:

• Eat a Peach (1972, released after Duane Allman’s death the prior year).


• Brothers and Sisters (1973, it went to number-one on the Billboard chart).


• Win, Lose or Draw (1975).


• Enlightened Rogues (1979, the band’s last Top 10 full-length).

The Allman Brother would go on to issue several more studio, live and archival LPs through the decades.

View Slideshow: 28 Musicians Who Died Too Young

In the Allman Brothers biography, “One Way Out, guitarist Dicky Betts described Trains as a musician with “drive and strength.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, Trucks thought back on the Allman Brothers Band’s unexpected status as concert headliners.

“We were in another universe,” he said at the time, expounding as follows:

“We were out spreading the gospel of this music we had discovered. We never thought that we would be more than an opening act.

“Atlantic Records was riding our ass constantly to get Gregg out from behind the organ, stick a salami down his pants and jump around the stage like Robert Plant. We told them to go fuck themselves. ‘We’re playing this for ourselves. We’ve tried it your way before.

“We didn’t make any money and we had a miserable time…’

“Little by little, people started understanding what we were doing. But it had to start with us.

“Once the crowd got in and we could feed on their energy, we’d feed it back to them.”

We send our condolences to the friends, family members and loved ones of Butch Trucks.

View Slideshow: Celebrities Who Died in 2017: In Memoriam

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Fire Trucks Race to Jared Leto"s Hollywood Hills Home (PHOTOS)

One of Jared Leto’s L.A. homes was the scene of a panic Friday evening that had firefighters searching the grounds.  LAFD says it got a call to the residence in Laurel Canyon because someone smelled smoke. We’re told everyone inside the…

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