John Z. DeLorean and the Media

          Below is the term paper I wrote for my Critical Issues in Journalism class, in which I discuss the media biases applied to and exploited by John Z. DeLorean.  I got a perfect score on it.  (Yay!)  Please let me know what you think of it. 

John Z. DeLorean and the Media

          As a captain of industry, the late John DeLorean was not a stranger to the media and the biases with which it operated.  As an ideas man and skilled promoter, he also used those media biases and prevalent practices to his advantage.  DeLorean was a target for cueing, an exploiter of framing and possessed the credibility to support that framing.

          It should come as no surprise that DeLorean, a successful engineer with Packard and lucrative division manager at General Motors, was the subject of rampant media cueing.  One cue applied to DeLorean was the sort, using a variety of words, which painted a picture of him as a flashy, jet-setting, glamorous playboy.  DeLorean’s obituary from the New York Times in 2005 included a description of him as a “flamboyant automobile industrialist” in its first line.  Houston station KHOU-11’s coverage of the revived DeLorean Motor Company several years ago called the DeLorean DMC-12 “a sports car built by the rich and famous for the rich and famous” and DeLorean himself “a jet-setting ex-GM celebrity.”  Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine described his lifestyle as “extravagant” and “rockstar-like.”  The documentary “Anything to Win: The Crash of John DeLorean” called him “an international playboy” and “an iconoclastic celebrity businessman.”

          Another type of cue used for DeLorean was that which depicted DeLorean as a rebel or nonconformist.  As far back as 1969, Sports Illustrated said, “Yet there are those who predict that General Motors will clamp down on its house rebel and that he will accept the clamps if he harbors any thoughts of gaining the corporation's presidency—a job at least 10 years in the future if GM tradition means anything.”  People magazine published the 1980 article “G.M. Renegade John Delorean Toots His Own Horn with a New Life, New Book and a New Car.”  In 2008, The Detroit News ran an article titled “The rise and fall of John DeLorean, dashing, maverick automaker.”

          The third cue the media has used for DeLorean is that of conman, although he was never convicted in his notorious cocaine trafficking case.  The New York Times Style Magazine described him as a clarinet-playing former engineer that turned into a hipster conman.  In 2005, The Guardian summarized DeLorean as “a world-class conman” for his association with fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion and defaulted loans in its article “John DeLorean: American car-maker and conman whose victims included the UK and the US governments.”

          It is clear that DeLorean was a bountiful source of cueing opportunities for the press and that the press indulged in those opportunities often.  Cues such as “jet-setting”, “maverick” and “con man” are quick, easy ways of not only gaining an audience’s attention, but of emotionally involving the audience in the story.

          Given DeLorean’s well-known history of legal troubles, it seems appropriate that his story is one rife with framing - albeit media framing, constructed by those at DeLorean Motor Company and the media itself.  The DeLorean DMC-12 print ad and commercial featured the tagline “Live the Dream.”  This frame tapped into consumers’ inner Walter Mitty complexes.  Automobiles inspire visions of freedom, independence and unforgettable journeys and the gullwing doors swinging up as the line is superimposed on the screen and gulls flying over the ocean only serve to entice viewers to chase those visions and live their dreams behind the wheel of the DeLorean DMC-12.  Automobiles are also glamorous status symbols and the DMC-12 print ad showed DMC’s awareness of this by stating that other drivers would be envious as a DMC-12 owner drove by.

          Another example of framing lies in the media stating that DeLorean “broke the mold” in the automotive industry.  Forbes magazine said DeLorean “broke the mold” when he founded his eponymous motor company in 1975.  Fox News’ obituary for DeLorean said, “DeLorean ‘broke the mold’ of staid Midwestern auto executives by pushing General Motors Corp. to offer smaller models, auto historians said.”  Such a frame is comprehensible and familiar to most news viewers and implies that DeLorean is exciting and revolutionary, which is, conveniently, the kind of person viewers are likely to tune in to see and learn more about.

          DeLorean had the credibility to justify his self-imposed framing.  One could argue that he lived the dream suggested by his company’s advertising.  He dated glamorous movie stars Raquel Welch and Ursula Andress while he was a free-wheeling bachelor.  DeLorean was married to Kelly Harmon and the successful model Christina Ferrare, undoubtedly the objects of many a man’s desires.  He also had lavish estates in New Jersey and New York and socialized with celebrities such as Johnny Carson and Sammy Davis, Jr.  Luxurious homes and high-profile friends are typically envied possessions - much like a DMC-12 would appear to other motorists.  Perhaps this credibility is what caused the DMC-12 to be such a highly anticipated release and DeLorean to be such a successful automobile promoter.

          Although the media filtered the picture of John DeLorean through its prism of cueing, he was able to appeal to customers by making them see the DMC-12 in the favorable light cast by advantageous framing and shined brightly as a beacon of credibility.