First, GM’s invitation to the world to “make your own” Chevy Tahoe commercial spawned a slew of Chevy-bashing spoof ads with copy such as “Our planet’s oil is almost gone. You don’t need G.P.S. to see where this road leads.”

Then several prominent publications profiled the campaign as an unintended disaster.

But, finally, the consensus at many of the leading tech weblogs was, brilliant move, GM.