GM hopes you’re dumb enough to (kinda) think Transformers are real

This is how stupid, how pliable, big corporations think we are:

Posters outside theaters across the country list Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel and Megan Fox as the stars of the summer action flick “Transformers.”

But in the labs and cubicles where General Motors Corp. (nyse: GM – news – people ) workers design and market new cars, the true leads are the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Solstice, GMC TopKick and Hummer H2.

“You’re going to see these cars as the heroes. You’re not going to see the other actors,” said Dino Bernacchi, GM’s associate director of branded entertainment. “These cars are the stars, literally, in the movie.”

GM, which long has sought to reach younger car buyers to so-so results, is hoping to draw the 18-to-34 set to its showrooms thanks to the company’s oversized presence in the film and in the accompanying toys and video games.

Yeah, cuz 18-year-olds are in a position to be buying Camaros and Hummers. Hurry up and use the oil, kids, before it runs out… or before you get shipped overseas to fight for GMs right to profit, not just from the guzzling of oil — the H2’s fuel “economy” may be as low as 8 mpg — but the sale of war-making material: didn’tja know? GM is a one of the world’s biggest defense contractors.

I enjoy watching shit blow up onscreen as much as the next guy, and Transformers is a lot of fun. But it’s fantasy, this movie in particular even more than most action flicks. And GM’s blatant idiocy — don’t make a good, socially responsible product, just make it look good in a summer blockbuster — disgusts me. That most likely plenty of people will fall for GM’s tricks disgusts me even more.

(Technorati tags: Transformers, product placement, GM)