Red Wings giving away a Honda!

[Buy American]

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...-20101116-wpms

They'll never see another dime of my money at a game in Detroit or elsewhere. What a slap in the face of their loyal Detroit and Michigan fans.

[RYANGUARD]

I remember in the 80's the Red Wings did give away cars from the big 3.But in this "global"economy apparently the Red Wings feel they need to diversify by giving away an import.

[Buy American]

They can diversify all they want but it's still a slap in the face of Detroiters who are out of work because of the bad economy due lay offs at the auto plants here in Michigan and they still go to games and cheer the Wings on. What has Honda done for Detroit or the Wings?...absolutely nothing! Illich should be ashamed of himself.

[Ray1936]

What has Honda done for Detroit or the Wings?...absolutely nothing! Illich should be ashamed of himself.

Couldn't agree more, BA. I don't blame Illich himself -- his marketing people came up with this bonehead idea -- but it sure has a subterranian "screw you, America" message attached.

[Nicodeme]

Honda is one of the NHL's primary sponsors, I'd have to assume that played a role in it. If I were Honda, I wouldn't want NHL clubs to give away a competitor's car, if I'm directly or indirectly helping to fund that team.

But of course personally, I find it quite ridiculous they'd go along with this in Detroit, of all cities. They should've chosen something else, like free season tickets or something.

[Wingnatic]

Here's a long list of Honda facilities in the U.S. and an equally long list of people that Mr. I has helped and continues to help through Illitch Charities .
Back when GM was on the ropes and couldn't afford to stay in business let alone advertise , Mr . I left all of GM's advertising stay up at Comerica Park ......... free of charge
http://corporate.honda.com/america/facilities.aspx
http://ilitchcharities.org/Contributions.aspx

[Buy American]

This is a huge mistake on his part.

[Wingnatic]

Honda facilities in the U.S.

Alpharetta, GA Power Equipment Headquarters

Auto Zone

Finance

Parts Center

Honda Rider Education Center
Anna, OH Engine Plant
Honda's largest engine facility in the world, the Anna plant annually produces more than one million L-4 andV-6 engines.
Ann Arbor, MI Emissions Lab
Cantil, CA Testing
Chino, CA Parts Center
Colton, CA Honda Rider Education Center
Davenport, IA Parts Center
Denver, CO Emissions Testing Lab
East Liberty, OH Automobile Plant
Using Honda's flexible manufacturing, this plant produces cars and light trucks on the same assembly line.

Transportation Research Center [[Test Track)
Greensboro, NC HondaJet Production Facility

R & D Center
Greensburg, IN Automobile Plant
Irving, TX Honda Rider Education Center

Parts Center
Lincoln, AL Automobile and Engine Plant
Opened in 2001, this is our newest North American Automobile Plant, producing the Odyssey minivan, the Pilot and V-6 engine.
Longmont, CO Data Center
Loudon, TN Parts Center
Marysville, OH Motorcycle Plant
Honda's first U.S. production facility, the Marysville Motorcycle Plant has produced more than 1.8 million motorcycles and ATVs since 1979.

Automobile Plant
One of the most integrated and flexible auto plants in North America, it houses stamping, welding, paint, plastic injection molding and assembly under one roof.
Mojave Desert, CA R & D Test Track
Mt. Laurel, NJ Parts Center
Pasadena, CA Advanced Styling Center
Portland, OR Parts Center
Raymond, OH R & D Center
Russells Point, OH Transmission Plant
Santa Clarita, CA Honda Performance Development [[Auto Racing)
Stockton, CA Parts Center
Swepsonville, NC Power Equipment Plant
This facility has an annual production capacity of 1.5 million multi-purpose power equipment engines.
Tallapoosa, GA Transmission Plant
Timmonville, SC All-Terrain Vehicle Plant

Personal Watercraft Plant
Honda's primary ATV plant in North America also handles engine assembly under the same roof and, in 2002, opened a second plant for personal watercraft production.
Torrance, CA U.S. Sales & Marketing Headquarters

R & D Center

Parts Center
Troy, OH Honda Rider Education Center

Parts Center
Windsor Lock, CT Parts Center

[sol lahmi]

While I certainly would rather American metal be used in this promotion, I doubt this was a decision from the Wings brass. As stated earlier, Honda is the primary automobile sponsor of the NHL, I suspect that they are doing this in many more markets that Detroit.

[Wingnatic]

In addition to not charging GM for any advertising at Comerica Park [[at least $1 million bucks worth)
Recent grants from Ilitch Charities include:


Detroit Institute of Arts
$35,000 to support the celebration of 125 years of collecting, protecting, and presenting its exceptional collection of art for the benefit of all people in Southeastern Michigan.

Forgotten Harvest
$35,000 to support the fight against hunger in the Detroit Metropolitan community.

Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit
$35,000 to support workplace training programs throughout Southeastern Michigan.

S.A.Y. Detroit
$35,000 to support local Detroit shelters.

2-1-1 On the Go!
$30,000 to support their mobile outreach program. This program uses 2-1-1 call center resources on the streets of Detroit to assist the homeless population.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
$30,000 to support the ongoing operations of the internationally acclaimed and fourth-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States.


Focus: HOPE
$30,000 to support workforce development initiatives and educational programming.


Mosaic Youth Theatre
$30,000 to support their internationally acclaimed youth development program that helps young artists excel on stage and in life.

Coalition on Temporary Shelter [[C.O.T.S.)
$150,000 to support the construction of an infant care center for children under the age of two at C.O.T.S.


Junior Achievement Finance Park
$25,000 a year for ten years to support a Little Caesars learning booth at the Junior Achievement Finance Park. The JA Finance Park is a new state-of-the-are, hands-on learning center located in the heart of downtown Detroit. By participating in JA’s custom-designed curriculum, middle and high school students learn “real-life” lessons about personal finance.


Little Caesars AAA and Amateur Hockey Scholarships
$20,000 yearly - Provide up to ten $2,500 scholarships each spring to college bound Little Caesars AAA and Little Caesars Amateur Hockey League players.



Past Grant Recipients include:
Alternatives for Girls
Arts & Technology Academy of Pontiac
Bill Scruggs Memorial Fund
Brendan Filzek Childhood Cancer Assistance Fund
Bridging Communities
Camp Mak-a-Dream of Michigan
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
Children's Charities Coalition
Children First
Children's Home of Detroit/Foundation for Exceptional Children
Common Ground Sanctuary
Curtains & Comfort
Dispute Resolution Education Resources, Inc.
Fallen Heroes Fund of Oakland County
For the Kids Foundation
Kids Kicking Cancer/Sickle Cell
Kids Like Us
Math Corps at Wayne State University
Mentoring Solutions
The Mission: Prevention Education for Children, Youth and Young Adults
MI-COPS
Niles Baseball Field Renovation - Niles Community Schools
Old Newsboy Goodfellow Fund
Pontiac Police Memorial Fund
Reaching Higher, Inc.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
Special Olympics of Michigan
Starfish Family Services
Think Detroit PAL
Turning Point, Inc.
Wigs for Kids

[canuck]

I know I disagreed with you on buying import cars before, but my first reaction to your post was one of sympathy with yours.

This may be a faux-pas by Illitch especially at this time in Detroit's history but
I wonder if your initial reaction isnt another example of how the automotive industry has branded Detroit and vice versa. This isnt insurmountable and its not all that bad. I think that Detroiters have the right to feel an attachment to the automotive branding of the city. But some Detroiters have a right to maybe get off that bus and cherish something else, maybe the weather, the residential architecture and things outside the monoindustrial identity. I drive a japanese car, and I have driven
american cars; it doesnt address how Detroit is going to get out of this mire.

I have a neighbor who owns a metal fabrication machine company. He had a return client whose company builds industrial shelving units who was shopping around for a new machine a couple of years ago. This client was a fundamentalist christian type, he asked if he could get a machine without computer controls since his community resisted using computers. My neighbor pointed to the guy's brandnew pick-up and told him the thing was filled with computers and sensors but the guy didnt believe him. This guy probably didnt watch TV, read the papers or whatever else prevented him from seeing the forest for the trees.

[gnome]

I wonder if the winer will throw it back like a homerun ball from the opposing team. or maybe he'll have one of those sledgehammer fests that were so popular in the 1980s.

[thatguy123]

They can diversify all they want but it's still a slap in the face of Detroiters who are out of work because of the bad economy due lay offs at the auto plants here in Michigan and they still go to games and cheer the Wings on. What has Honda done for Detroit or the Wings?...absolutely nothing! Illich should be ashamed of himself.

Yeah lets just ignore the fact that the Honda is probably built in the US, by US workers who are paid in US money to feed their families with. What an asshole he is.

[Jason]

geeze, it's just a prize from a sponsor. some beer company gave away hats one game, other games you get pom poms with sponsors printed on them, etc. There's not any message behind it.

Last year if someone got a hat trick, you could get free curly fries at arby's. Should that have been boycotted because it as arby's and not free faygo pop or something?

[mikefmich]

Yeah lets just ignore the fact that the Honda is probably built in the US, by US workers who are paid in US money to feed their families with. What an asshole he is.

That's true, but where is the end of the road for cash brought in by US Honda facilities? Its sure ain't Hoboken.

[One Shot]

I would preferred they use an American car in the giveaway. Even if Honda gave them the car I would've declined due to negative reaction. Illitch could've reached in his pocket for a new domestic to give away. Hockey is a blue collar sport and it's gonna rub alot of people the wrong way. The boo's might be as good as they were when Kwame tried to talk after they won the cup!
Gotta remember that ya can't please everbody! Why a Chrysler...It wasn't built in Detroit proper....Why a Ford...They own the Lions...Blah blah blah

[Hypestyles]

where do you sign up for the contest?

.... I remember when Isaiah Thomas had his endorsement deal with Toyota in the 80s, that was a mild controversy for a while..

[TheKage]

The next time I go to a Wings game, I'm gonna take note of how many Hondas, Toyotas,... are parked in the Joe Louis garage. I bet there are more than a few.

It's just a prize give-away, no big deal.

[bailey]

That's true, but where is the end of the road for cash brought in by US Honda facilities? Its sure ain't Hoboken.

what is larger, the 2500 bucks they might profit from the car or the tens of thousands per car spent here on its manufacture coupled with the multiplier of that salary being spent in the community?

I'll sympathize with you "buy American" folks the day you start boycotting GM and Ford for building cars in poverty wage, third world countries and selling them here. OR the day you boycott Chyrsler, which is, for all intents and purposes, a foreign owned company.

[kraig]

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...-20101116-wpms

They'll never see another dime of my money at a game in Detroit or elsewhere. What a slap in the face of their loyal Detroit and Michigan fans.

Keep it real. It's not the Red Wings giving away a Honda, it's Honda giving away a Honda through the Red Wings. Are you foolish enough to think that Mike Illitch went out and bought a Honda to give away? What's more important to you, American Made or American Owned? Depending on your answer, you may need to prepare to dump a lot of products made by the Big 3.

[Det_ard]

I personally know six guys who live in metro Detroit that design and/or build machine tools/parts for Honda or its direct suppliers. I bet they're happy that Honda is sourcing the tools and parts here in the US. I bet they don't mind the Honda giveaway.

[Mackinaw]

Wow, this is some of the most petty shit I've seen on this forum yet.

I preach big 3 pride as much as anyone, but I am pretty sure that a Honda promotion by the Red Wings is not going to make or break our hometown companies [[especially in Michigan, where people are pretty set in their ways, anyway). In contrast, my current local team, the presently-lowly New Jersey Devils, have Ford and Lincoln as their premier sponsor. There are some fine Lincoln display cars in the concourses of the Prudential Center, but of course the most commonly seen cars in the NY metro are Honda sedans, by far. I really don't think that people are persuaded by the brand their local franchise takes money from, and this would certainly be even truer in Detroit.

Note that Illitch, whose team you propose to boycott, has given the hometown corporations free advertising at Comerica Park during their recent hour of doom.

p.s. Go Wings! I look forward to avidly supporting them and their Honda-subsidized franchise in purchasing tickets next month. Whatever it takes to keep winning...

[rjk]

It's just a prize give-away, no big deal.

It's terrible PR for Ilitch.
I was shocked when I first heard about.
Someone down at the Joe should have done a little more thinking on this one.

[Goose]

Keep it real. It's not the Red Wings giving away a Honda, it's Honda giving away a Honda through the Red Wings. Are you foolish enough to think that Mike Illitch went out and bought a Honda to give away? What's more important to you, American Made or American Owned? Depending on your answer, you may need to prepare to dump a lot of products made by the Big 3.

+1

Honda paid to adevertise.... the other companies didn't... It's not Illitchs or the Red Wings job to promote auto companies for the sake of the city, they are businesses and if they want to adverstise, I'm sure the Red Wings would be more than happy to take their advertising dollars and give away one of their cars.....

[Downriviera]

If that isn't bad enough, the Wings now have a lot of Japanese players. I was listening on the radio the other night and I kept hearing," Heshuzi scores".