Washed out

The staff at Foote, Cone & Belding can thank management for making their cars all clean and shiny, but they can forget about a repeat performance next year.

Department heads at the Irvine, Calif., shop recently rolled up their sleeves and formed an assembly line to spiff up employee cars. It was a well-intended act of appreciation, but it seems the in-house ads and posters touting the stunt were a bit too successful.

“We didn’t expect there to be that many [cars], and we didn’t expect them to be as dirty as they were,” said Jim Harrington, president of FCB Southern California.