GM and Netflix Partner Up to Promote EVs (with tons of free advertising)

­We’ve all heard of product placement. But what about idea placement…with product placement.

I suppose all commercials, ads, and product placement are trying to express some sort of idea – whether it’s the desirability of the product, itself, or how it makes you feel.

But GM’s partnership with Netflix is decidedly different. The automaker and streaming service are teaming up to promote electric vehicles in the latter’s programming.

It all began with a Will Ferrell Super Bowl ad -- $6.5 million per 30 seconds, mind you – showing the actor/comedian taking GM EVs through an assortment of Netflix productions like Squid Game, Queer Eye, Love is Blind, Stranger Things, and even the 19th century period drama Bridgerton.

This latest venture piggybacks off 2021’s “Everybody In” campaign, “demonstrating the company’s intent to lead an all-electric future.”

And for their part, GM is claiming only the noblest of intentions for their Netflix partnership.

“Entertainment has a huge impact on culture. We want to make EVs famous on streaming, small and silver screens to build an EV culture through storytelling that incorporates the experiences of driving and owning an EV…we are united in creating a better, more sustainable future for our world as we bring everybody in on EVs,” said GM Global Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl.

And Netflix is adamant that this isn’t product placement.

"GM's not paying to put their vehicles on Netflix shows," Netflix Chief Marketing Officer Marian Lee said.

No, nothing like that.

What’s better than paid product placement? Unpaid product placement.

In the future, “Love is Blind”, “Queer Eye”, and “Unstable” will feature the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, GMC HUMMER EV Pickup, and Cadillac LYRIQ, respectively. Porsche shelled out over $7 million for 3 minutes of screen time in 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life.”

And if Netflix is being truthful, GM just got prime product placement for almost nothing (providing the EVs for the production, one would assume).

GM claims to be “a cultural leader in the auto industry,” and like many automakers, they’ve vowed to go carbon-neutral by 2040 and make only EVs by 2035.

Netflix is also trying to be more green behind the camera by optimizing energy use, then electrifying it, and decarbonizing the rest. It all sounds like a net win for the environment and the future of EVs.

But it’s hard not to be cynical when an automotive goliath like General Motors gets millions of dollars’ worth of free advertising. Keep that in the back of your mind when Ford, BMW, and Volkswagen pop up in the next Transformers movie.