megachurches. The venues are a way to reach black consumers, the company says. Chrysler also is sponsoring a gospel concert tour this fall by singer Patti LaBelle.
She will perform in the churches. Two or three days before the concerts, Chrysler will host one-day vehicle ride-and-drives at the churches, says company spokesman James Kenyon. Participants will get concert tickets.
The venues include Baptist, African Methodist Episcopal and nondenominational churches, Kenyon says. The tour includes Greater Grace Temple, an Apostolic Faith Church in Detroit. Another tour site is The Potter's House, a nondenominational church in Dallas.
"These are venues of 10,000 or more," Kenyon told Automotive News. Asked whether there is a risk in a commercial brand's aligning with specific denominations, Kenyon says: "We're not afraid of that. That's not the issue.
It's not about denominations." Chrysler's sponsorship "reaches the African-American audience in one of the strongest institutions in that community," he says. The tour is scheduled to open Saturday, Oct.
7, in Dallas. Other tour stops are Cleveland; Chicago; Philadelphia; Jamaica, N.Y.
, and Brooklyn, N.Y.; Atlanta; Los Angeles; Raleigh-Durham, N.
C.; and St. Louis.
A 12th city will be added. For every ride-and-drive taken as part of the promotion, LaBelle is donating $5 to the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center.
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