Toyota stalking people to sell cars

[gremcint]

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=8776841

My god, how stupid are these people. I mean did they actually think this would sell cars. This poor woman apparently signed something utterly vague once that counted as opting into a campaign, she was then harassed for five days by a fictious male who kept saying he was going to come to her house and knew where she lived. She is suing them for 10million dollars and I think she should get it.

[draggar]

$10 million is stretching it but I'm sure it will be settled out of court.

Crap like that isn't cool and the people responsible should be hung out to dry.

[Broomjockey]

Warning! Foul language abounds!

The prank campaign, Saatchi creative director Alex Flint told the magazine, should gain the appreciation from "even the most cynical, anti-advertising guy."

WHAT ADVERTISING?! How the *fuck* is this shit supposed to sell any damned thing to even the most susceptible of asstards?! "Hey, we had some random internet creation terrify another random person, BUY OUR CAR!" Christ, suing them isn't enough. Every person who came up with this campaign should be fired, and forced to work volunteer at a crisis counselling centre in some capacity, so they can see what really happens to people who have shit like this really happen to them.

[joe hx]

The thread title reminded me of this guy.

[Amina516]

I agree that the $10 mil is a bit much BUT she needs something. That would be horrible to be feeling like that for 5 days, thinking you have a ex con stalker coming to your house and chill.

Itd be interesting to see the actual emails. Did they have anything signifying they were from toyota? Like maybe a little logo @ the bottom or something?

I really really dont see how this is any kind of advertising campaign.

[persephone]

Can ANYONE explain to me how this was supposed to sell cars?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Article says she was set up by a friend for this. Personally I'd never speak to that "friend" ever again.

I too cannot figure out how in the hell this would sell cars.

When I'm King of the World, I'm forcing all companies to hire a staff skeptic to nip this crap in the bud before it even begins.

"Hey, we're going to do this new ad campaign where we trick somebody into agreeing to be stalked by somebody. Our goal in doing this is to sell cars. So whaddaya think?"

"One, how is terrifying somebody going to get them to buy a car? Two, there's no way this wouldn't lead to lawsuits. Third, I wouldn't allow you to breed. I say it's a terrible idea."

Of course the skeptic cannot be fired for rejecting an idea.

[mikoyan29]

Companies should have a staff skeptic.

I knew things have been bad for Toyota but I didn't think it was this bad.

[tropicsgoddess]

I can understand why the woman would want to sue them for that prank, but $10 million is a bit much, to be honest. I honestly wonder what the fuck they were smoking to come up with such a horrible sales/ad/marketing campaign like that?!!