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Dear Jeffery Smith:

I am writing with my concerns about your recent Presidents’ Day commercial that I have seen on my local network TV stations. Actually, just one concern. Does Honda think that Benjamin Franklin was a U.S. president? Because he wasn’t. But this commercial really makes it seem like he was. And I know you’re better than that.

Hondas are great! My dad had one once. It had really nice cupholders. I’m sure it also had some other features that made him choose the Honda over all the other cars, but I was a kid, so I was most concerned with things like cupholders.

Now I’m getting off track. Back to the commercial. Your actor/spokesperson states “As we salute our nation’s presidents, our local Honda dealers are making this Presidents’ Day weekend all about Benjamin Franklin.” My question to you is: why are you making this weekend about Mr. Franklin?

On one level I understand using Benjamin Franklin to sell cars. You want people to think about saving “Benjamins” (slang for $100 bills) when they buy your cars. I’m all for that. I love saving Benjamins. If I ever win the lottery, I plan to fill a swimming pool with Benjamins and go swimming, Scrooge McDuck style. (Not really. But how cool would that be?) Then I’ll go buy some cars. Maybe even a Honda.

However, the juxtaposition of “Benjamins” and “Presidents’ Day” makes me think that you guys really think that Benjamin Franklin was a president. And he totally wasn’t. He had some pretty great jobs. Did you know that he was (technically) the first U.S. Ambassador to Sweden?* And he was the first U.S. Ambassador to France. And he was the first U.S. Postmaster General. So he was lots of firsts. But he wasn’t the first U.S. president – that was George Washington. Actually, Franklin was pretty old by the time we elected our first president in 1789. He was pretty sick too – he died of a lung disease in 1790, so there wouldn’t have been time for him to serve as president. But that’s ok. Franklin did lots of other great things, and Washington ended up working out pretty well for the country.

Speaking of Washington, I get why you didn’t try to use him to sell cars. There aren’t any movies or songs that claim “it’s all about the Washingtons.” I understand that a $1 bill has approximately 1/100th of the cachet of a $100 bill. But Washington was our first president, so he has that going for him. In fact – before it was Presidents’ Day, the federal holiday on the third Monday in February was more accurately known as Washington’s Birthday! (Washington was born on February 22, 1732 – happy 282nd big guy!)

I wish I could help you think of a cool Washington related ad campaign, but I’m not good at these kinds of things. I’m sure you have an ad agency though, and they might be able to help. Come to think of it, shouldn’t someone there have known that Franklin was never a president? Maybe you should hire some third graders or something to help you develop your ad for next year. Third graders are pretty good at presidents.

In all seriousness: great cars, questionable ads. If you’re going to commercialize holidays originally conceived to honor a great American, at least get your facts straight.

Sincerely,

Rachel Gordon

PS: How do you know that “Mr. Franklin would surely approve of Honda’s leadership and safety ratings.”? Do you have a time machine? Can I borrow it?