One of my photos showed up on Car and Drivers website today, front page. It wasn't there long, but hey... I never thought they'd repost what some trolls reposted, when I was just doing my job, and sharing on facebook that the Dodge dealership I work for just received a rare car.

Wanna guess which one? Or why? Hell, even how?

it's this SRT Hellcat 50th Anniversary Daytona Widebody limited edition (501 made)

and this violet chin spoiler protection guard is why.

it's a rare cool car, but that wasn't what the trolls on facebook latched onto. It's that protective guard.

What the hell is it on there for? The factory decided that Hellcats deserved some safety gear to prevent damage to the lower aerodynamic fascia... hell, I suppose Vipers got something to prevent the chin spoiler from getting scraped and scratched, but, I don't recall.

Anyway, here's the ridiculous history. Back in 2016 or so, some dealerships left the chin spoiler guards on. They were yellow

Customers who actually have to drive over speedbumps, and across the steep angle between parking lots to the city streets left them on.  https://jalopnik.com/yellow-air-dam-shipping-covers-are-some-of-the-hottest-1827977830

Well, that upset the sketch artist head of Dodge, Chrysler and SRT Design, because he had the lines, curves, and looks of the SRT vehicles in mind as better looking without the transportation safety protection guards.

 Hell no he's not to blame for the Avenger, nor the recent Dart debacle. Nope, not the recently killed off Chrysler 200 either. 

In fact, he doesn't seem to be responsible for anything that Mopar has screwed up, and no one at Mopar has realized what a genius this guy is, and put him in charge of QA so that the Mopar FCA product line all get some nicely focused attention  from a superb idealist. 

He also doesn't seem to have been the genesis of anything at Mopar that is new, fresh, innovative, or a paradigm shift (Pt Cruiser, Prowler, Viper) so, maybe he's the guy that has been tasked with trying to create some more life into the 2006 Challenger, and 2012 Charger. You know, if you can't make something new, look around for how to create a lifeline for the same old car for another year, based on the designs from 1968-72. 

Seriously. Name one new car design from Mopar in the last 5 years. That didn't suck. Or Jeep. Or Chrysler. 

According to the interview with Hot Rod, he hasn't made anything https://www.hotrod.com/articles/take-5-mark-trostle-head-dodge-chrysler-srt-design/

So, when he was being interviewed by someone from Canada who operates from a car wash, I can't make this up.... 

This is someone I've never heard of, and that doesn't mean much, I'm a car guy, not a media mogul, a tycoon of the You Tube, knowing all the wanna bes that keep plunking away on video to get the dues paid so they can move onto, well, whatever companies haven't gone out of business from all the car reviewers that do it for free. Edmunds I suppose, and maybe Kelly Blue Book. 

Anyway, at the end of this video he finds the idealist head of Dodge, Chrysler and SRT Design, and lets him go on camera to give his opinion on the splitter guard issue that came about with the Hellcats

So, in the sketch... you didn't have the splitter guard. Ok, well, that's proof that you're a cog in the machine, not the boss.
Another department was tasked with shipping and delivery.

They decided these splitter guards were needed during the drive on and off the transporter hauler trailers.

Since the design guy has zero hands on experience with the dealerships, as he went from college to design, and no experience with trucking and delivery, he then decides to make a statement as if he were the authority on paint damage from a chin spoiler guard that he also had nothing to do with.

Then he decides to put his foot in it, after opening wide to state clearly, that in his experience (none) and hands on examination of vehicles in dealerships, or with customers, that the spoiler guards cause paint damage.

That, in a way, is saying the factory is damaging the paint by installing these plastic guards.

Only if you take a look and experience evidence that there is a cause and effect.

So "The Drive" did an article on the matter

Dodge has sided with Trostle and will change the color of its splitter guards to a shade of violet, which Trostle hopes will end the trend of customers doing what they want to with the cars they've purchased. ( after all, why shouldn't the design guy tell the customers what to do with the car after they spend 80-100K for it? )

 "For the new splitter guards, we've introduced a new, fashionable purple color that... we'll see if that one takes off. I hope it doesn't. It's purple."

And this fed the Facebook trolls, who have now created 4 different harassment pages about the splitter guards.

Hey pal, you didn’t complete the PDI!  and Now the group will perform the piece "dragging the OP", in C minor  were created today just to troll
Hey pal, you forgot to remove your car from them splitter guards
Good sir you forgot to remove your banana peels
Hey Pal, You Forgot To Take Your Splitter Guards Off

After all, no one ever thought that people buying baseball caps would leave the gold foil stickers on the bill... '
but they do.

  

https://www.billioncreation.com/top-ten-characteristics-authentic-new-era-caps/