16868: Overreaction Of The Week.

 

Major brands are hyping Black Friday sales—despite abandoning Blacks via discounting DEIBA+ dedication. It’s holiday hypocrisy hijinks.

 

 

16797: Toyota Drives Away From LGBTQIA+ Community…?

 

Advertising Age reported Toyota put the brakes on sponsoring LGBTQIA+ events, joining a growing caravan of corporations cutting DEIBA+ heat shields.

 

The actual stock photo illustrating the story (depicted above) inspired a caption.

 

It all prompts the question: What type of car does Dylan Mulvaney drive?

 

Toyota curbs DEI policy after activist attack over LGBTQ support

 

The automaker says it will halt sponsorship of LGBTQ events

 

Toyota Motor Corp. will refocus DEI programs and halt sponsorship of LGBTQ events, citing “a highly politicized discussion” around corporate commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion.

 

The Japanese carmaker told employees it will also end participation in notable rankings by LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign and other corporate culture surveys. The company will “narrow our community activities to align with STEM education and workforce readiness,” it said in a memo Thursday to its 50,000 U.S. employees and 1,500 dealers.

 

The note comes a week after anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck started a social media campaign against the company, calling for customer boycotts because of its support for LGBTQ events and other initiatives. Toyota said at the time that the LGBTQ programs targeted were led by employee groups, not the company directly.

 

A spokesman for the company on Thursday said Starbuck’s public attack drew a few hundred queries from employees, questions from a “small population” of dealers and about 30 customer calls to its call center. He described the impact as “negligible.”

 

As of Thursday, Toyota was still plugging its diversity programs on a section of its website that describes its culture with statements such as “D+I is a fundamental part of everything we do.” Another section labeled Limitless Possibilities includes a photo of what appears to be a Pride parade with a woman holding a sign stating “Respect 4 People is the Toyota Way.”

 

Toyota is among a handful of companies Starbuck has targeted in recent months for their “woke” policies. Harley-Davidson Inc., Lowe’s Cos. and Ford Motor Co. said they would curb their DEI efforts, including scaling back programs directed at LGBTQ groups. Ford and farm goods retailer Tractor Supply Co. are among companies that pulled out of the HRC rankings. Molson Coors also retreated, saying it would stop linking executive compensation to employee representation and scrap supplier diversity goals.

 

The HRC in recent weeks has cautioned companies against backtracking on LGBTQ efforts and urged supporters to boycott many of the companies that have ended participation in its Corporate Equality Index.

 

“Short-sighted decisions to abandon DEI initiatives will have a lasting, negative impact on business success in a future where more people than ever are identifying as LGBTQ+,” Eric Bloem, a VP at the organization, said in an email last week in response to Starbuck’s attack on Toyota.

 

Starbuck’s fight against corporate DEI programs is the latest in a conservative-led campaign that was emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action in college admissions last year. That ruling sparked a series of lawsuits and complaints against companies for discriminating against white workers.

 

—Bloomberg News with Ad Age contributions

14406: Toyota And Burrell To Play In The Super Bowl.

Advertising Age reported Toyota handed a Super Bowl assignment to Burrell Communications, the automaker’s Black advertising agency. So after five years, Total Toyota actually reduced the total control enjoyed by White advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi? Well, at least there’s less of a chance that the spot will be shot on a former slave plantation.

Toyota gives its multicultural shop, Burrell, a Super Bowl assignment

The automaker will plug its RAV4 crossover

By E.J. Schultz

Toyota will appear in the Super Bowl for the second straight year, and the automaker is giving its multicultural agency, Burrell Communications, the assignment. The ad will be for the 2019 RAV4 compact crossover.

Saatchi & Saatchi normally takes the creative lead on Toyota’s big general market campaigns, including previous Super Bowl ads. So Burrell’s assignment represents a significant win for the agency.

“Toyota’s multi-agency approach is part of the brand’s broader strategy to embrace diversity nuances throughout the strategy, creative and communications of all its campaigns,” Toyota said in a statement. Saatchi & Saatchi will handle “media and communications strategies” for the ad, according to the statement. But “the Super Bowl execution will tap into learnings to have Burrell Communications develop and produce the creative.”

Burrell, which is on Toyota’s roster of regular agencies, is on the upswing thanks in part to its new Social Listening Lab. The proprietary tool, developed in 2017, gathers feedback for campaigns and pitches from a focus group of 10,000 African-American influencers with a combined reach of 115 million consumers.

Toyota sat out the 2017 Super Bowl, but came back in 2018 in a big way with three ads: two 60-second spots and one 30-second ad. It represented Toyota’s biggest Super Bowl ad buy ever. The 2018 game was broadcast by NBC, which also aired the Olympics starting just days later. Toyota is an Olympics sponsor, and has a tight relationship with NBC, so the large ad buy made sense.

A Toyota spokeswoman declined to reveal the length or creative details for the ad for Super Bowl LIII, which will be carried by CBS on Feb. 3.

Ed Laukes, head of marketing for the Toyota Division, told Automotive News that RAV4 is worthy of the “biggest set of eyeballs on the planet” that it will get with the Super Bowl ad. The vehicle, which was redesigned for 2019, is the best-selling nonpickup in the nation, according to Automotive News.

Toyota is the fourth automaker to confirm a Super Bowl ad buy, following Mercedes-Benz, Kia and Hyundai.

Last season, 11 auto commercials ran featuring six brands: Ram and Jeep (both owned by Fiat-Chrysler), as well as Hyundai, Kia, Toyota and Toyota-owned Lexus. In the 2017 game, eight automakers ran a total of 10 ads. Lexus has not commented on its plans for 2019. Honda has confirmed to Ad Age that it will sit out the game for the second straight year. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a regular Super Bowl advertiser, has not yet made its plans public, and typically does not do so until the week leading up to the game.

14009: BHM 2018—Toyota.

Toyota celebrates BHM with Afrofuturism—and a layout that looks very outdated.

13350: Toyota Drives Stereotypes.

A MultiCultClassics visitor pointed toward this Toyota commercial accelerating cultural cluelessness. In the spot, parents drop off their White kids for extracurricular practice sessions at upscale facilities including a horse riding academy, swimming pool and baseball field—however, the Black kid is dropped off at a gritty boxing gym by his “bro” versus Moms or Pops. Twitter comments have noted the stereotypes. Not sure which White advertising agency is responsible for this latest example of Total Toyota total bullshit. Hey, at least the Black kid wasn’t driven to the slave plantation.

13017: Toyota Totaled.

Wow, maybe the Total Toyota trash ain’t too terrible after all. This RAV4 Hybrid campaign from Toyota’s Black advertising agency is a comedic car wreck. It’s impossible to identify a single funny moment among Teachers Lounge, Dodgeball, High Price, Maintenance, Why Wouldn’t Ya, Cost Savings, Styling and Mileage.

12953: Global Total Toyota…?

Thought Toyota commercials in the U.S. were bad? Check out what’s playing in South Africa.

12742: Let’s Not Go Places.

Toyota Global Head of Communications Julie Hamp resigned after being arrested for allegedly importing drugs into Japan. Hey, Hamp, you should be concentrating on importing cars versus controlled substances. And what exotic drugs inspired the creative teams responsible for the Total Toyota bullshit campaign that included depicting a former slave plantation?

Toyota’s Communications Chief Resigns Following Arrest

Police Said Julie Hamp Allegedly Imported a Controlled Drug into Japan

Toyota Motor Corp. said Julie Hamp, its first female managing officer, resigned the position after her arrest last month for allegedly importing drugs into Japan.

Toyota accepted the resignation “after considering the concerns and inconvenience that recent events have caused our stakeholders,” the Toyota City, Japan-based company said on its website. Hamp, 55, had been named the global head of communications for the world’s largest carmaker in April.

Hamp’s resignation comes after President Akio Toyoda called a press conference one day after her June 18 arrest to express confidence that she hadn’t intentionally broken Japanese law. The company had pointed to Hamp’s appointment as evidence that it was diversifying its executive ranks, which is predominantly comprised of Japanese men.

Tokyo metropolitan police arrested Hamp on suspicion she had imported the pain medication oxycodone, police spokesmen have said, asking not to be named in accordance with its policy. She joined the company in June 2012 from PepsiCo Inc., where she was a senior vice president, and worked previously for General Motors Corp.

Oxycodone is designated as a narcotic in Japan and users need advance permission from the health and welfare ministry before bringing it into the country, according to the Narcotics Control Department.

--Bloomberg News--

12621: Total Toyota Totally Terrible.

MediaPost published a piece titled, “Toyota’s T2 Says Bye-Bye To General Market”—and the story should have also said hello to really shitty advertising concepts.

12524: BHM 2015—Toyota.

Well, at least Toyota didn’t salute Black History Month with B.B. King on a slave plantation.

12217: Total Toyota Recall.

Reuters reported Toyota is recalling about 362,000 Camry vehicles worldwide due to production defects. Hey, while they’re at it, the automaker should also recall the Total Toyota initiative, which has clearly displayed serious production defects.

Toyota to recall nearly 362K Camrys

By Reuters

TOKYO – Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it would recall a combined 361,800 vehicles globally, including the Camry sedan, covering three separate defects.

Subject to the recalls are 170,000 Camrys to fix a faulty ball joint that could cause a loss of control of the vehicle. Europe accounts for the majority with about 120,000 vehicles, followed by 40,000 in Japan, Toyota said.

Another recall covers 105,800 Hiace, Regius Ace and Dyna models, mainly in Japan, to replace the fuel pipe. The third recall is for 86,000 Crown and Crown Majesta models in Japan to replace the outer seat belt assemblies.

Toyota said it was not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths from the three recalls.

12134: Total Toyota Promotes Slavery…?

Comments left for the new Total Toyota campaign post claim that the second spot in the series—“Bride Breakout”—was shot at a former slave plantation in Louisiana. Nice. Brings added meaning to the tagline, “Let’s Go Places.” Not sure why this commercial might be considered cross-cultural or multicultural, as the cast is totally White, save for a single Black man as a background extra. The actor, however, probably played a larger role in the production than the minority agencies comprising Total Toyota.

12132: Total Toyota Bullshit.

Advertising Age reported on the new campaign created by Total Toyota, the coalition of the automaker’s White agency and minority agencies. As previously stated, Total Toyota sounds like total bullshit. The new campaign features two spots, and the one posted by Ad Age—“Guitar”—shows Saatchi & Saatchi’s name on the slate. Did all five agencies collaborate to create the commercial? If so, the cross-cultural cluster fuck failed, as the advertisement is a contrived piece of garbage. Bringing in B.B. King is about as tired as it gets. It would be interesting to learn how the minority agencies are being compensated—that is, how the crumbs are being distributed—in this Total Toyota scheme. Of course, don’t count on receiving the total truth regarding such details.

Toyota Breaks First Work From Multicultural Marketing Team

Effort from Total Toyota Group Themed ‘One Bold Choice Leads to Another’

By Max Willens

The first campaign created by Toyota Total, the automaker’s multicultural marketing team, will break this weekend on some of the most mainstream programming around: NFL football.

Entitled “One Bold Choice Leads to Another,” the multimedia push for the 2015 Toyota Camry will launch with two 30-second spots airing on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” telecast. The effort, which Toyota said is aimed at the “transcultural mainstream,” will run through March 2015.

Comprised of five agencies – Toyota’s agency of record, Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles, plus Burrell Communications, Conill, InterTrend Communications and Zenith – Total Toyota unites the automaker’s multicultural marketing initiatives under one umbrella. Toyota’s Camry is the nation’s best-selling car and the automaker claims Toyota is the No. 1 auto brand among Hispanics, African- and Asian-Americans.

A total of six spots will air over the course of the campaign, which also features print and radio elements, as well as some interactive and experiential programs designed to present the car to audiences that are much smaller and more specific than the mass viewership tuning in for Sunday night’s game.

One includes sponsorship of the DramaFever Awards. DramaFever is a video-streaming site that specializes in international TV, including South Korean teenage dramas and Spanish-language telenovelas. In addition to sponsorship of the Awards themselves, Camry will sponsor a branded “Bold and Beautiful” award. Another planned facet of the campaign is a social media-oriented push in which a chef will visit restaurants and share recipes while getting fans to share their own.

Prior campaigns have centered on defying people’s expectations of Camry, which some see as a stable, but slightly bland and unexciting car. In 2013, Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles created a kind of stunt course at a Six Flags location then drove visitors through them at high speeds in the Camry.

The Camry has been the top-selling car in the U.S. for more than a decade, and its sales continue to tick up. Toyota sold 334,978 Camrys through the first nine months of the year, an increase of 5% from the previous year, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

11970: Toyota Swagger Wagon Rolls On.

Oh boy, there’s a new pool-out commercial in the Toyota Swagger Wagon campaign. This one even features a real rapper—Busta Rhymes. Not sure why it took nearly four years to produce a sequel. Then again, not sure why anyone thought the original spot was a good idea. Fuck the alleged “viral” power. It was and is a contrived, clichéd, stereotype-riddled piece of shit. The new video runs about 3.2 minutes. Which is roughly 3.3 minutes too long.

11647: Total Toyota Is Total Bullshit.

Advertising Age reported Toyota has created “Total Toyota” (aka T2), a new team that aligns its White agency—Saatchi & Saatchi—with its minority shops. A Toyota wonk explained, “The [agencies] stay the same. They’re just now going to be working more as one team. There’s no merger, no acquisition, nothing like that. It’s still four separate entities. But working as one—for the total market.” However, the White agency is leading the team. Which means “Total Toyota” for the total market is total bullshit. Saatchi & Saatchi is angling to control the total marketing budget. The only racial harmony you’ll see here will come from pool outs of the infamous Cheerios commercial.

Toyota Aligns Multicultural Marketing Under T2 Umbrella

Saatchi & Saatchi Will Lead Team That Includes Conill, Burrell and InterTrend

By Michael McCarthy, Laurel Wentz

Toyota says the so-called multicultural consumer is the new mainstream, not a niche.

To do a better job marketing to these consumers, Toyota will announce today it’s aligning its disparate multicultural marketing agencies into a new team dubbed “Total Toyota” or T2.

Toyota’s longtime ad agency, Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles, will take the lead on T2, according to Jack Hollis, VP-marketing for Toyota Motor Sales USA in Torrance, Calif.

Linking up with Saatchi will be three sibling Publicis Groupe shops that already handle multicultural marketing duties for Toyota: Conill Advertising (Hispanic), Burrell Communications (African-American) and Zenith (broadcast and out-of-home media buying). InterTrend Communications, which specializes in Asian-American marketing, will also be part of the group.

T2 will become operational with the start of Toyota’s new fiscal year on April 1, 2014.

Said Mr. Hollis: “The [agencies] stay the same. They’re just now going to be working more as one team. There’s no merger, no acquisition, nothing like that. It’s still four separate entities. But working as one—for the total market.”

Hispanic advertising generally accounts for the bulk of marketers’ multicultural marketing budget. Toyota ranks as the No. 8 Hispanic advertiser. It spent $87.5 million on Hispanic media in 2012, according to Ad Age’s Hispanic Fact Pack.

Toyota plans to boost its multicultural media spending in 2014, said Mr. Hollis. But he’s still working out the details about how much. The changes are “about bringing it all together—and making it the mainstream.”

Based on its own vehicle registration data, Toyota claims to be the No. 1 auto brand among Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans.

The Toyota division sold 1,742,111 vehicles through the first 11 months of 2013, up 8% from the same period the year before, according to Automotive News Data Center.

That puts Toyota behind Ford Motor Co.’s Ford division (2,194,934, up 12%) and General Motors Chevrolet (1,793,632, up 7%) but ahead of American Honda’s Honda division (1,240,372, up 8%) and Nissan USA’s Nissan unit (1,035,439, up 11%).

11436: Toyota’s Spare Tire.

Not sure what Toyota is communicating with this ad. Pretty sure it’s going to piss off lots of plus-sized drivers.

From Ads of the World.

11425: Toyota Rolls Out Clichés.

Is a minority agency responsible for this awful Toyota commercial? The spot presents all the cultural clichés: Soul Train, hip hop, gratuitous breakdancing, clumsy choreography and copy incorporating the word style. The only thing that’s all-new is the title on the end frame.

UPDATE: A blog visitor left a comment indicating the cliché-ridden commercial is the work of White agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Let’s hope Don Cornelius’ estate was paid for the blatant Soul Train rip-off.