New York Toyota Dealers Pull Ads from ABC Stations
1. New York Toyota Dealers Pull Ads from ABC Stations
Toyota dealers in New York state have severely restricted their advertising on ABC-affiliated TV
stations throughout the state because of what they consider unfair coverage of Toyota safety
problems by ABC News.
The Greater New York Toyota Dealer Association, which represents 59 dealers in metropolitan New
York City, and the Upstate New York Toyota Dealer Association, which represents 33 dealers in the
rest of New York state, have cut their advertising on ten different ABC affiliates as much as 60
percent since March.
Dennis Lauzon, head of the Greater New York Toyota Dealer Association, confirmed that Toyota
dealers in his group had voted to cut advertising on the ABC-owned station in New York City, WABC.
"If you have a news agency that constantly bashes your product, that would make no sense
whatsoever to be advertising," said Lauzon, president of Parkway Toyota in suburban Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.
Driver in Prison for Fatal Runaway Toyota Accident
The ABC News investigative unit has been reporting on the problem of so-called "runaway Toyotas"
since last November. In recent months, Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles over sudden
acceleration issues. According to Lauzon, the dealers decided to restrict commercial buys at ABC
local stations in March, at the height of widespread coverage of Toyota's response to the problem.
ABC affiliated stations in upstate New York also said advertising has been sharply reduced by the
Upstate New York Toyota Dealer Association. A station manager at a New York ABC affiliate said
that a member of the dealers group told him they were "pressured" by the Toyota corporation to
limit their commercial buys to no more than a 10 percent share in his market because of what the
automaker perceived as "biased and unfair reporting by ABC'S Brian Ross related to the Toyota
acceleration issues."
A sales manager at another New York state ABC affiliate said that on average the ABC affiliates
throughout the state could normally expect to get about a quarter of the local broadcast TV ad
dollars spent by car dealers. Barry Waite of Waite Toyota in Watertown, N.Y., head of the Upstate
New York Toyota Dealer Association, was unavailable for comment.
2. A spokesperson at Toyota's U.S. headquarters denied that the automaker had instructed its local
dealerships to cut their ad buys. According to Celeste Migliore of Toyota Motor Sales, the local New
York dealers decided on their own to take action against the ABC-affiliated stations. "As private
business owners," said Migliore, "what they do with their businesses is up to them." Migliore noted
that Toyota Motor Sales continues to buy commercial time on national ABC broadcast media. Jeanne
Myers of Saatchi Saatchi, which buys advertising on behalf of the Upstate New York Toyota Dealer
Association, did not respond to a request for comment.
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