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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Toyota doesn't make cars for bloggers?

Toyota's recent advertisement declaring "we don't make cars for bloggers" was apparently aimed at the enormous amount of criticism Toyota faces on the Internet.  Now, now Toyota. You musn't lose your temper over this free speech thing. 

Best I can tell, Toyota and its protectors have been losin' the battle when it comes to promoting the automaker's interests on the Web, thanks in large part to sharp criticisms from bloggers, especially micro-bloggers on social media websites such as Twitter. To drum up support for the Recall King, someone recently offered bloggers $10 Amazon gift cards in exchange for favorable postings, etc., and even e-mailed a linked list of preferred websites for the bloggers to target. But alas. One of the bloggers took an ethical exception to all this, complained rather loudly, and things never materialized. In fact, things backfired by bringing about a social media uproar and a tweet from Toyota denying any involvement in the scheme. Nothin' like a devoted fan...

Listen, Toyota. I can understand why you might have it in for bloggers. But if you really wanna punish 'em, don't refuse to make cars for 'em. Instead, make 'em buy your cars.