Plight of Corporate Sponsorship

Chrysler announced it was ending its Chrysler Design Awards after 10 years, essentially because the effort and money put into supporting various designers and architects (past honorees include Frank Gehry) was not being realized in sales of Chryslers. According to the Times, senior vice president for design at Chrysler Trevor Creed said, given the millions spent over the years, he said it came down to whether "anybody ever said, `I'd like to buy a Chrysler or a Jeep vehicle' " because of the awards. "And the answer was, regrettably, no." It's interesting to Gothamist that Chrysler thought they'd be able to raise its profile with this demographic - hip, aesthetically savvy designers, a target that seems more like Mini-Cooper and Audi consumers. Gothamist is naive enough, at times, to think that these large corporations truly do believe in bettering society, but with news like this and ExxonMobil not renewing its sponsorship of Masterpiece Theatre, we remember that all that anyone cares about is the bottom line. Chrysler will probably try to get placed in a movie or something.

The Chrysler Design Awards site.