So Things Are Just Rosy At GM…

I’m starting to wonder of all the talk about President Obama touting the auto bailout on the campaign trail might end up being counter-productive. It looks like things aren’t all that great at General Motors. From WTHR:

General Motors Co. says that its global chief marketing officer, Joel Ewanick, has resigned from the Detroit auto maker. The announcement comes following several major changes to the company’s advertising approach and just ahead of its second-quarter earnings report on Thursday.

G.M. said Sunday that Ewanick had elected to resign and his decision is effective immediately. The 52-year old executive joined the company in 2010 to oversee marketing for the company’s North American unit and was promoted within months to head its global marketing business.

Ewanick is an auto industry veteran, having worked for Nissan North America and Hyundai Motor America. He is considered the mastermind behind Hyundai’s offer to take back cars if buyers lost their jobs, a marketing effort which helped bring in buyers who may have otherwise sat on the sidelines due to the recession.

G.M hired Ewanick with the hopes he would find something similarly innovative to shake up its marketing and improve sales.

However, his time at G.M. has been less inspired by some measures. Ewanick was at the helm for the launch of the “Chevy Runs Deep” campaign, which failed to resonate with consumers. He also was at the head of marketing as it made several surprising changes to its advertising approach.

This is a pretty big move that sounds like it may be a preemptive strike ahead of the earnings report on Thursday. I could be wrong, but the timing of it sure is interesting.