MarketingInsideOut.com

From AdAge:

“The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is a little upset with General Motors Corp. over the automaker’s Super Bowl XLI spot in which a GM factory robot — obsessed with quality — dreams it loses its job, becomes depressed and jumps off a bridge.

Not funny, said the foundation, which released a request for GM to pull the commercial from future airings.”

Come on people!!!! It’s just a damn ad. With a f#&king robot for pity sake. IT’S NOT HUMAN!! It’s complete and total fiction. Lighten the hell up. It’s no wonder people think advertising in the States sucks compared to our European counterparts. Too many groups and individuals with apparently too much time on their hands and political agendas taken to the extreme. Come on… pick a bigger, more relevant and meaningful battle.

Definite repercussions over last week’s viral campaign fiasco. According to the Washington Post:

“Turner Broadcasting Systems and a marketing company have agreed to pay $2 million compensation and apologize for their advertising campaign that caused a widespread terrorism scare.

As part of the settlement, $1 million will be used to reimburse the agencies and $1 million will be used to fund homeland security and other programs. Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner Inc., and Interference Inc. also will issue a public statement accepting full responsibility and apologizing for the incident.”

Ouch! That hurts.

Yet in this week’s Ad Age Poll, which asked: “Do you think the furor over the Cartoon Network promotion for ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force’ in Boston will have a chilling effect on guerilla marketing in the future?”, 76% of respondents said no.