ABC News, via The Blotter, reports today that a group of Toyota dealers buying media through 22Squared in Atlanta pulled ads from ABC News due to “excessive stories on the Toyota issues,” which has now lead to additional coverage of the Toyota issues.
Though the company’s tagline has been rewritten (by one of our readers) to more accurately reflect the automaker’s brand, and despite ads that ran during the Super Bowl to showcase the company’s “tail-between-the-legs” status, Toyota now has another battle to fight — its own media-stupid clients.
According to ABC 22Squared’s Senior Vice President Marcia Owens-Reder tried to dissuade the group of dealers, all from the Southeast Toyota coalition, from pulling their ads. Presuming to know more about crisis management than the industry whose job it is to manage crises, Southeast Toyota chose to pull the ads anyway, and now it’s a thing.