Honda's Secret Weapon Starts at Home

LOS ANGELES Independent Secret Weapon Marketing has broken its first campaign for the Southern California Honda Dealers Association, which reformed as an advertising body last year when American Honda Motors lifted the ban on dealer-association ads it had imposed in 1994.

Three comedic 30-second spots show actors playing Honda staffers who visit the living rooms of prospective car buyers, listening attentively to horror stories of other car companies’ dealer shenanigans. The Honda dealers apologize “on behalf of the entire North American auto industry” for the tactics of their peers.