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SALT LAKE CITY — Brands spend big for advertising during the Super Bowl, but some Utahns took issue with what they saw in Jeep's commercial last Sunday. As a result, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plans to alter the ad.
The minute-long spot titled "4x4ever" features a montage of Jeep vehicles mixed with video clips of people taking part in outdoor activities, set to a song by Morgan Dorr. One of those shots shows a person swinging from a rope attached to Corona Arch in southern Utah.
Deb Miller of Murray was watching the game with friends, some of whom are geologists, when the ad came on the screen.
"We all kind of stopped talking and looked at each other and said, 'Well, that's not right,' " Miller said.
Their concern was based on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management instituting a two-year ban on rope activities at Corona Arch and Gemini Bridges in 2015. The move came after the BLM acquired the popular rock features from the state of Utah in a 2014 land swap.
Miller wrote Jeep to express her displeasure at seeing an illegal activity promoted in the ad.
"They need to promote legal and safe outdoor recreation and not something that ruins our natural resources," she said.
Others contacted the BLM, questioning if the ad violated any law. Agency staff reviewed the footage and determined it was shot prior to the ban taking effect.
"Though roped activities (such as rope swinging) are currently restricted at Corona Arch and Gemini Bridges, many areas on BLM-managed public lands in the Moab area remain open to recreationists," said BLM Moab Field Office manager Beth Ransel.
Jeep's parent company, FCA US LLC, also took a second look at the footage in response to complaints like Miller's.
"It was existing footage shot in 2012 by private individuals when that area was on unregulated state-owned land, before that land was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management," said Marissa Hunter, FCA US LLC's director of brand advertising. "We now understand that the BLM has since imposed a moratorium on such activities at that and other locations in the Moab area, a moratorium we respect."
Hunter also said the ad wasn't meant to promote rope-swinging from arches, but to instead show how much of the world is open to exploration by Jeep vehicles.
"The point has been well taken and we are removing the footage from future postings of the commercial," Hunter said.
Hunter also noted Jeep is preparing for the 50th annual Easter Jeep Safari in Moab.
"We are very much invested in this community and in protecting and maintaining the state's amazing natural resources through our annual participation in this event," Hunter said.
The attention on the ad comes even as the BLM is taking public comment on a possible permanent ban on rope use at Corona Arch. That would include not just swinging, but also ziplining, highlining, slacklining, climbing and rappelling.
Public comment on the agency's environmental assessment closes on Friday, Feb. 19. Comments can be made at the BLM website<?a?> .
