Ram Trucks fires up a near-perfect brand apology ad

Last year, when Ram Trucks parent company Stellantis announced it would discontinue the automaker’s popular Hemi V-8 engine for its Ram 1500 full-size pickup truck beginning this summer, its fans were upset—to say the least.

“When Ram made the decision to discontinue production of the iconic Hemi V-8, the internet erupted, and lifelong loyalists voiced their outrage across social media,” says Lindsay Fifelski, head of Ram brand advertising. “We knew we couldn’t market our way around this moment; we had to meet it head-on.” 

In the interim 12 months since the announcement, then-CEO Carlos Tavares stepped down from Stellantis. Then last week, the company announced the corporate version of “Never mind!”—and the Hemi was back before it even left. 

To double down on their message, Ram Trucks created a new commercial starring its CEO Tim Kuniskis—and in it he admits the company made a mistake. Sales were down by more than 18% year over year in 2024, but Kuniskis told CNBC that he expects Hemi to represent 25% to 40% of the Ram 1500 pickup trucks’ sales this year.

Created with the ad agency Argonaut, the new spot was shot entirely with practical effects. It features Kuniskis himself behind the wheel of the truck, doing doughnuts, drifting, and taking a few hot laps on a NASCAR track.

One of Kuniskis’s first lines in the ad is: “We own it. We got it wrong. And we’re fixing it.” It’s a simple, textbook brand apology, creatively combined with the kind of pep talk aimed to get brand fans hyped for what’s next. 

The Ram apology ad is part of a growing—and refreshing—trend of brands increasingly having the cajones to own their mistakes and be upfront about it. Last year, I outlined the five types of brand apologies. Both Bumble and Apple were examples of what I categorized as “The Genuine Apology.” This week, Ram Trucks joined the club.

Make it right

While a clear, unequivocal apology often feels like the most logical response to a mistake or to genuine brand fan anger, it’s not what brands are intuitively built to do. Deflect, distract, and avoid are too often on the menu. 

Argonaut founder and chief creative officer Hunter Hindman knew the right answer here; he just had to convince his client. “We all knew the best solution would be to put Tim in the hot seat, front and center,” Hindman says. “No corporate gloss. No hiding behind brand spin. Just a man, a machine, and a promise to make it right. And to Tim’s credit, he didn’t blink.”

Kuniskis says it wasn’t a tough decision to admit the mistake. The brand knew almost instantly after last year’s announcement that it had a problem. A 2022 study from Forrester found that 41% of consumers would return to a brand that concedes to making a mistake and apologizes for it.

“Our customers told us loud and clear how—and I’ll say this lightly— ‘displeased’ they were with our decision to get rid of the Hemi V-8,” he says. “You only had to go on to social media to see how they were feeling. Betrayed. We know that truck buyers are very loyal to their brand, and once you lose them, you have to fight tooth and nail to get them back. It was almost immediately clear that we had to right the wrong.”