So the latest, Toyota banner shows a couple of Toyota Tech people along with the slogan "We've already fixed over 3 million cars". Who's brilliant idea was that? I think the Toyota recall, repair hysteria is dying down in the media...but Toyota seems focused on whipping it back up. Why create advertising yourself that keeps reminding people of your recent problems? I mean, yes, you've fixed 3 million cars.....because you had 3 million cars you needed to fix! This is NOT a good thing to remind people. I've been supportive and actually felt sorry for Toyota when they were caught in the hail storm of negative media and couldn't catch a break, but I have to say, Toyota's PR machine just hasn't handled things very well at almost every step. Note to Toyota, the clouds are parting, the rain has stopped, it's time to move on...build better products, make improvements, do not make the same mistakes but get back to being a automaker and not an apology machine. But don't create your own negative headlines and actually pay to have them in the public eye...
Yeah...I'm still trying to figure out what they were apologizing for. I can't find anything wrong with my floormats or braking, Car and Driver couldn't find anything wrong with the Camry's braking under hard acceleration, and Consumer Reports (and their Toyota owners) could never find any such things wrong with Toyotas and Priuses in 10 years of testing and driver surveys. The American media is agenda-driven these days--make that profit driven--so they've lost a lot of their credibility. And I suspect Obama's Transportation secretary is in bed with the Auto unions.
Totally agree, TEM. I've taken issue with all of their advertising over the last year and a half, including the Prius Harmony commercials. Aside from the recent Sienna ads, they've all been cringe-worthy. The constant "Gee shucks, we're sorry" ads were ridiculous. And now touting that you've fixed over 3 million of your own vehicles. Not smart. John Q. Consumer doesn't even realize that many cars were affected. But the "Saved by Zero" commercials still take the cake. And they kill.
The ad targets a certain audiences, this one is for non-Toyota owners who heard about the bad publicity about the recalls. This is to build back the confidence to buy Toyota again because Toyota stands behind their product and will fix them if defects are discovered.
Japanese vs North American culture. Probably stressed by the infamous continual improvement culture of Toyota.
