TVSpy
Toyota dealers throughout the southeast have pulled their ads from ABC affiliates in response to ABC’s continued investigation into the company’s string of recalls.
ABC News reported on Monday that Toyota dealers in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina would no longer run commercials on local ABC stations because of what the ad agency representing the dealers described as “excessive stories on the Toyota issues.”
According to an ABC station manager, the Toyota dealers have shifted their ad spend to other stations in the same markets. The station manager described the move as “punishment for the reporting.”
The group of 173 dealers–known as Southeast Toyota–that pulled ads from ABC affiliates sought council from the ad agency representing them but, according to a representative of the agency, “ultimately it was their decision to make.”