Toyota Dealers Pull ABC TV Ads; Anger Over 'Excessive Stories'

[Newsjock]

Source: ABC News

Toyota dealers in five southeast states have pulled their commercials off ABC TV local affiliates, complaining about the coverage of Toyota safety problems by ABC News and its chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross.

The ad agency representing the 173 dealers told ABC affiliates last week that the shift was due to "excessive stories on the Toyota issues." The dealers shifted their commercial time buys to non-ABC stations in the same markets, "as punishment for the reporting," according to an ABC station manager.

... The shift of commercials away from ABC affiliates was ordered last week, according to Marcia Owens-Reder, senior vice-president at 22Squared, the Atlanta advertising agency that handles the account for the dealers, known as Southeast Toyota.

Reder said she "tried" to talk the dealers out of the move. "We have counseled the client on the pros and cons of this, and ultimately it was their decision to make," read an e-mail sent to the stations from the agency last week.

"Please let me know the earliest that we can get off the air on your station," the message concluded.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/toyota-dealers-pull-abc-tv-ads-anger-excessive/story?id=9776474

[fasttense]

1. Well, Toyota is people too (according to the dancing supremes)

So, all Toyota has to do is buy a couple of RepubliCON politicians.

[RockaFowler]

2. That happened here in SoFla

I work for a NBC station and we got the bulk of the South East Toyota money. It helps us, but it's a sad thing for the ABC station in the area.

[krkaufman]

8. Well, here's hoping that all the networks continue covering it....

... and that this story, Toyota dealers punishing a news outlets publicizing security issues w/ Toyota products, gets pushed nationally.

Makes me a little sorry I own one.

[Brickbat]

3. Owie, truth hurts!

[Kolesar]

4. To fill the time, enjoy our presentation of "Tora, Tora, Tora"

[Robb]

12. LOL nt

[NoodleyAppendage]

5. So, those ABC TV local affiliates need to run stories about this pressure to keep public in the dark

Rather than give in to these mafia-like Toyota dealers, those local TV stations now need to amp up the pressure by running stories about how dealer "by name" are trying to use financial punishment to keep the public in the dark.

J

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. Does Toyota somehow owe it to the station to keep running its ads?

Help me out here. The station can run the Toyota stories all it wants, right? Toyota is
just saying it won't subsidize the station for doing so...I don't get the problem.

[NoodleyAppendage]

23. Don't be naive. You know full-well that the ad pulls were punishment for reporting the truth.

The problem rests in the media's reliance upon dollars from the very persons they may have to report unfavorable news about. When was the last time you heard a negative story about GE on NBC or MSNBC?

I'm not sure how to fix the problem other than more dollars to PBS (or even making PBS less corporate dependent).

[louis-t]

6. Big media only had 3 stories all week.

Toyota, Sarah Palin, and snow.

[onenote]

20. two out of three here in the DC area

Snow dominated the coverage. Toyota ran a distant second. Sarah wasn't even on the radar screen. The departure of Tai Shan the panda for China got more airtime than Sarah did.

[krkaufman]

7. There two stories seem fitting, together....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4260522

[SoapBox]

9. Trying to hide the story

...oh ya...that's just great...

They try and calm the storm (and hide the story) instead of meeting it HEAD ON.

[DeSwiss]

10. How stupid can you get?

Not only has Toyota given ABC News and Brian Ross credibility (pause please :puke:), but they've also strengthened the negative image of Toyota to boot!


- If you can't stand the heat Toyota, then you should stay out of the marketplace.....

K&R

[tomm2thumbs]

11. the public will see this as strong-arming the news/press - Toyota looking like a thug now

can they do worse for their image?

Let's watch and see what else these idiots can think of

[Garbo 2004]

13. Brilliant PR move. First try to cover up the problem as people die, then launch major recall and

expect no one to cover it. Then these dealers, in a depressed market, take their ads off the air to punish local affiliates for airing the news. Guess they expected the public wouldn't hear about that either. Looks like they found a way to keep Toyota in the news (and not in a good way) and further damage the brand they're trying to sell.

Pure genius.

[No Elephants]

18. Wasn't the problem that Toyotal did not launch a recall?

[4lbs]

14. Here in the San Diego area, I saw an actual Toyota ad yesterday. It was a local one, from

Toyota of El Cajon.

They were lauding their location's eco-friendly setup and Toyota putting safety first before profits. I snickered a little at that second one.

[Corgigal]

16. It's an easy fix Toyota

Allow drivers to brake and have the car slow down, when needed. With that "minor" request this all goes away.

[SPedigrees]

17. When your CEO goes on national tv apologizing for his co's defective product

news stories about the issues can scarcely be called "excessive."

[Dappleganger]

19. Seems like Toyota moves quickly when it comes to their reputation..

but when it comes to customer safety they move at a snail's pace.

[musette_sf]

21. Toyota: Drive One And You'll Never Stop!

(apologies to Andy Borowitz)

[Gin]

22. just saw a Toyota commercial on MSNBC...it addressed

the problem and mentioned how they are fixing it..