Chevy Malibu - How can I ignore you?

Chevy tried something interesting today on Yahoo's homepage: Quoting user reviews and linking directly to the Yahoo! Auto Chevy Malibu review page.
I counted 41 reviews at 9.20 am PT: 22 positive, 12, negative and 7 reviews discussing the advertising tactics or supporting domestic automakers with patriotic arguments.

A few quotes:

I WAS WITH HONDA FOR 5 YEARS IN THE CAR BUSINESS. THIS NEW MALIBU WILL TURN ASIAN CAR BUYERS BACK TO GM. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IT, THEN YOU HAVEN'T DRIVEN ONE YET. GREAT CAR.

Why there are so many haters in this country? Some poeple says so nagative about it, and obviously, they don't even own one. People are already saying it breaks when warranty expires. but the car just out. Why are u such a bad person? To judge it buy one and tell us when 5 years later the warranty expired and when the car does break. It just don't make sense over the old products agains the new ones. Or does someone paying you to say it?

The last American car that I owned was a Chevrolet. It was a maintenance
nightmare and a piece of junk. Since this horrible experience I only drive vehicles for Toyota and Honda.

CHEVROLET MALIBU IS THE WORST CAR THEY ONLY LAST AS LONG AS YOU ARE UNDER WARRENTY, AFTER THAT THE CAR GO DOWN HILL

another piece of general motors junk..i have been waiting 30 years for them to come even close to camry or accord. needs better pricing to bring the folks back..lutz is a joke..discusted detroiter..

i love the new malibu. it is the best i ever owned. all i ever by is a chevy. my grandfathers car has over 300,000 miles on it and it runs great. and the trucks are awesome 2

best car for the price
when i first saw this car i thought is was a audi a6

just wondering how many of these comments were written by GM, the lack of cons gives it away

is car is the definite class act of the mid-size market. Styling is heads and shoulders above the Accord and especially the Camry (does anyone really think the bulbous styling is really attractive?).

This is a giant step forward and is a compeditive offering. We should stop bashing our selfs as Americans and stop living in the past with respect that only Japan can build a good car at this price point.

Go test drive this car and take a close look. It may change your perspective!

Some of these comments explain why our country is in is decline. Go to Japan and Germany to see how loyal their people are to domestic autos. They understand the importance of the auto industry and the export business. Our country has become an import happy country and all the good jobs are gone because we have no loyalty to our own products.

If the good reviews supposedly come from GM dealers or GM HQ or GM marketers, then the reviews bashing the Malibu probably come from Toyota dealers, Toyota HQ or Toyota marketers or all other "foreign" car makers.

I was under the impression that these comments were to be left by people that own the cars so you could get an impression of what people think about it on a daily basis. Its a little unnerving to see that half of the people on here that are just in LOVE with their rice burners have nothing but bad things to say about this car, because well, its a car that will probably knock their company off its high horse.

Holy Cow, how many of these reviews were written by GM dealers or someone at the GM HQ's.. WOW..!!! I had a 2003 Malibu that was the biggest piece of crap I've ever owned, and that included Ford Escorts..!!! I sold it at 44k with a blown intake manifold, yeah, they've been building cars for 80 years but can't make an intake manifold that won't leak.

Not for nothing, I think Yahoo to support the the ad on its homepage or GM marketing wrote 90% of the user reviews on this board. The language and the style of most of the posts seem like the same person wrote the positive feedbacks. Thats not to say that the car isn't decent, it is. But, it would be a travesty for these two publicly traded companies, to put an ad up Quoting Yahoo Users to get people to click and then misrepresent themselves as normal owners and buyers. The truth is that this car is competive against Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. It does have standard features that are included that the other cars lack. But we all mistrust the longevity and future values of a Chevy and I doubt it will hold up as well as its Japanese look-a-likes. If you are shopping check it out, but don't be fooled by these self posts that GM is flaunting in its Yahoo AD.

I just bought this car and am very impressed with the overall performance and value of this vehicle.... Job well done Chevy !

It's interesting how the discussion changed from reviewing the car to discussing the quality issues (or perception thereof) of domestic automakers. Chevy should have expected it because that's the real conversation happening out there. People have the perception that domestic automakers don't have the same quality product as Japanese automakers.

You can't fight this perception with a massive media blitz and hope for attitudinal changes. Instead, Chevy should have a found a way to insert themselves into this conversation and answer critics with facts (extended warranty) and maybe even some discussion about other brands. If you want to access the world of conversational marketing, you need to listen, respond and join. Just linking to user reviews and hoping for the best doesn't do the job. It will do more harm than good.

Update: I started this post at 9.20 and it's now 10.20 am - No reviews have been posted in the last hour.

Update: Interestingly, the number of reviews have not changed but new reviews are coming in. Bad reviews are still visible but they seem to be switching out old ones. Not sure. However, the discussion has deteroriated. One of the last posts:

Jesus is God!
YAYAYAY YAY YAY YAy YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!! GO GM GO ...

Update: It's 10:08 pm, the campaign has ended. Still only 41 reviews, it seems the old ones drop and the reviews are limited to 41 posts. Lame.