Feeling Unloved

For months, the Chrysler Corp. has been peddling its Dodges with a series of television ads in which a paunchy, cigar-chomping sheriff tells a Dodge dealer: "You in a heap o' trouble, boy!" Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Robert Chiaramonte was not amused. He wrote to Chrysler complaining that the ads "portray the police officer in a most objectionable manner and tend to weaken the court process of America." Getting no immediate answer, Chiaramonte began exploring ways to halt the state's purchase of Plymouth patrol cars, also manufactured by Chrysler. Suddenly the company became very sympathetic to Chiaramonte's position, though it insisted that it had planned to change the commercials anyhow.

There have been other examples lately, demonstrating how people in authority have grown sensitive about spoofing. The Army and Air Force Motion Picture Service, for example, has banned the film M*A*S*H, an admittedly gory burlesque of war, from service installations. It is difficult to imagine that anything can be done to relieve such unremitting solemnity. Satire that evokes so strong a reaction may be rough on the target, but it usually contains at least a few grains of truth. To argue that, however, only increases official outrage. The basic problem is that some police and military brass are probably feeling unloved these days.

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