Any Color, As Long As It's Printable

General Motors, apparently not satisfied with a $30 billion government bailout, is asking U.S. citizens to chip in just one more tiny little thing: a color name for the new Chevy Volt, the world's first mass-produced extended-range electric vehicle.

From the photos, I'd say it looks silverish-greenish. But hey, we're Americans! We can do better!

So GM sponsored a contest (deadline was this morning, I regret to inform). And then Autopia, Wired.com's car blog, spread the word.

And the fun began.

Suffice it to say that Autopia's readers exibit little of the earnest enthusiasm of the official entrants. Compare the two sets of comments and judge for yourself.

My favorites: Lame Green, Data Gathering Blue Disguised As a Contest Green, and Socialist Red ("Darn right we should be able to name it we paid for it").

And special credit to Some Guy, who submitted "Can't Afford to Hire Our Own Marketing Firm Green" on the GM site.

Hat tip: Anthony Shore, who commented on LinkedIn: "It's a contest. What could possibly go wrong?"

Comments

[Jonathon]

Yes, what could possibly go wrong?

[JohnO]

This reminds me of a similar, smaller debacle in our fair burg of Portland, Oregon, where the local transit organization needs a new name for "Fareless Square," because from now on the trains are free in the square -- but not the buses.

A bit o' coverage:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2009/10/trimet_wants_help_renaming_far.html

[Michael Penn Moore]

When the Ford Maverick was first introduced years ago, there was, as I vaguely recall, both an official and an unofficial color-naming protocol; both were considered edgy in 1969. Official names included Anti-Establish Mint, Hulla Blue, Original Cinnamon, Freudian Gilt, and Thanks Vermillion. My dad, a Ford employee, said that the unofficial name for the last was "Fisher Body Rust"--an inside dig at GM's line.

[Jonathon]

Whoops. My previous comment appears to have lost my link to this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/business/global/03vegemite.html