Complaints over Nissan ad campaign

Nissan billboard draws ire

By Mark Rechtin
Automotive News / February 17, 2003

LOS ANGELES - Nissan North America Inc. has drawn criticism, rather than praise, for a billboard celebrating Black History Month.

The billboard shows the words "Black History Month," with "History" crossed out and replaced by "Future." The billboard is in eight cities, featuring the Nissan logo but no car images.

Critics say the campaign disrespects and ignores black history. And it doesn\'t help that this is the first major work produced by Nissan\'s new minority advertising firm, True Agency of New York.

But the automaker says it does not intend to change its tactics, nor does it regret the creative elements involved.

Glenda Gill, Detroit\'s bureau director of the automotive project for Rainbow/PUSH, is offended by Nissan\'s strategy. "Replacing history with future sometimes can rest in the philosophy of those opposing the leveling of the playing field for African- Americans," Gill says. "I would have felt better had it said \'Black History is our past and our future.\' This billboard is causing controversy, and it\'s not good for the company."

The billboard is part of a campaign that includes print, TV and the Internet. None of the other campaign elements has drawn criticism.

Steve Wilhite, Nissan\'s vice president of marketing, says Nissan is not planning to remove the billboards, but they might evolve as part of the minority marketing campaign.

On Feb. 7, the campaign moved into the second phase, which includes ads profiling notable black people of past and present.

Wilhite says the purpose of the billboard was to spark debate on how you can build on history for the future.

"Our intent was not to alienate or irritate people but to inspire them," he says. "If the board is providing discomfort or animosity, then we\'ll change the board. If one piece of the campaign is getting in the way of sharing values and positively communicating with people, then we will find other ways."

Activists complained that True was little more than a pawn for Nissan\'s head agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, which owns a one-third stake in True and has been providing back-office support. Nissan hired True for $15 million last June. Wilhite denies that Nissan gave the edge to True because of its connection to TBWA/Chiat/Day.

I can see where some might view this kind of corporate advertising as inherently distasteful.  I mean, a japanese car company produces ads with messages that have nothing to do with automobiles, in order to stroke african-americans\' egos, and persuade them to buy more Nissan products.  I\'ve always felt this type of approach was condescending, but that\'s just me.

What I can\'t understand is how anyone could construe this particular advertisement as negative.  Their argument doesn\'t make any sense.  "Replacing history with future sometimes can rest in the philosophy of those opposing the leveling of the playing field for African- Americans"  Could someone explain that to me?  :surprised

Oh sheesh, people take things to literal...

ITS AN ADVERTISMENT, NOT A INSULT!!!!111
I\'m suprised that people dont make such a big deal about some of the television commercials, literally selling sex, violenence, and carlessness.

Bah, people get offended by anything these days. I hate people.

Originally posted by Samwise
I hate people.

You asshole, that offends me.

Originally posted by Bozco


You asshole, that offends me.

I am deeply offended by your language!  

you\'re all gay


damnit, I just offended myself

Eh?

Originally posted by Spudz
Eh?

DAMN, you are a blantant friggin spammer.

I take offense to that Coredweller! :evil:

So here\'s my official reply...

(check all boxes that apply)

Dear:

 [ ] Clueless Newbie   [ ] Lamer         [ ] Flamer
 [ ] Loser             [ ] Spammer       [ ] Troller
 [ ] "Me too" er       [ ] Pervert       [ ] Geek
 [ ] Freak             [ ] Nerd          [ ] Elvis
 [ ] Racist            [ ] Fed           [ ] Freak
 [ ] Fundamentalist    [ ] Satanist      [ ] Homeopath
 [ ] Unbearably self-righteous person


I took exception to your recent:

 [ ] Email   [ ] Post to ____________________.
                               (newsgroup)

It was (check all that apply):

 [ ] Lame           [ ] Stupid         [ ] Abusive
 [ ] Clueless       [ ] Idiotic        [ ] Brain-damaged
 [ ] Imbecilic      [ ] Arrogant       [ ] Malevolent
 [ ] Contemptible   [ ] Libelous       [ ] Ignorant
 [ ] Clueless       [ ] Stupid         [ ] Fundamentalist
 [ ] Boring         [ ] Dim            [ ] Cowardly
 [ ] Deceitful      [ ] Demented       [ ] Self-righteous
 [ ] Crazy          [ ] Weird          [ ] Hypocritical
 [ ] Loathsome      [ ] Satanic        [ ] Despicable
 [ ] Belligerent    [ ] Mind-numbing   [ ] Maladroit
 [ ] Much longer than any worthwhile thought of which you may be capable.



 Your attention is drawn to the fact that:

 [ ] You posted what should have been emailed
 [ ] You obviously don\'t know how to read your newsgroups line
 [ ] You are trying to make money on a non-commercial newsgroup
 [ ] You self-righteously impose your religious beliefs on others
 [ ] You self-righteously impose your racial beliefs on others
 [ ] You posted a binary in a non-binaries group
 [ ] You don\'t know which group to post in
 [ ] You posted something totally uninteresting
 [ ] You crossposted to *way* too many newsgroups
 [ ] I don\'t like your tone of voice
 [ ] What you posted has been done before.
 [ ] Not only that, it was also done better the last time.
 [ ] You quoted an *entire* post in your reply
 [ ] You started a long, stupid thread
 [ ] You continued spreading a long stupid thread
 [ ] Your post is absurdly off topic for where you posted it
 [ ] You posted a followup to crossposted robot-generated spam
 [ ] You posted a "test" in a discussion group rather than in alt.test
 [ ] You posted a "YOU ALL SUCK" message
 [ ] You posted low-IQ flamebait
 [ ] You posted a blatantly obvious troll
 [ ] You followed up to a blatantly obvious troll
 [ ] You said "me too" to something
 [ ] You make no sense
 [ ] Your sig/alias is dreadful
 [ ] You must have spent your life in a skinner box to be this clueless.
 [ ] You posted a phone-sex ad
 [ ] You posted a stupid pyramid money making scheme
 [ ] You claimed a pyramid-scheme/chain letter for money was legal
 [ ] Your margin settings (or lack of) make your post unreadable.  Each
line
just goes on and on, not stopping at 75 characters, making it hard to read.
 [ ] You posted in ELitE CaPitALs to look k0OwL
 [ ] You posted a message in ALL CAPS, and you don\'t even own a TRS-80
 [ ] Your post was FULL of RANDOM CAPS for NO APPARENT REASON
 [ ] You have greatly misunderstood the purpose of this newsgroup.
 [ ] You have greatly misunderstood the purpose of the Internet.
 [ ] You are a loser.
 [ ] This has been pointed out to you before.
 [ ] You didn\'t do anything specific, but appear to be so generally
     worthless that you are being flamed on general principles.


It is recommended that you:

 [ ] Get a clue
 [ ] Get a life
 [ ] Go away
 [ ] Grow up
 [ ] Never post again
 [ ] Read every newsgroup you posted to for a week
 [ ] stop reading Usenet news and get a life
 [ ] stop sending Email and get a life
 [ ] Bust up your modem with a hammer and eat it
 [ ] Have your medication adjusted
 [ ] Jump into a bathtub while holding your monitor
 [ ] find a volcano and throw yourself in
 [ ] get a gun and shoot yourself
 [ ] Actually post something relevant
 [ ] Read the FAQ
 [ ] stick to FidoNet and come back when you\'ve grown up
 [ ] Apologize to everybody in this newsgroup
 [ ] consume excrement
 [ ] consume excrement and thus expire
 [ ] Post your tests to alt.test/misc.test
 [ ] Put your home phone number in your ads from now on
 [ ] Refrain from posting until you have a vague idea what you\'re doing


 In Closing, I\'d Like to Say:

 [ ] You need to seek psychiatric help
 [ ] Take your gibberish somewhere else
 [ ] *plonk*
 [ ] Learn how to post or get off the usenet
 [ ] Most of the above
 [ ] All of the above
 [ ] Some of the above, not including All of the above
 [X] You are so clueless that I didn\'t even bother filling in this form.

Ok, so it\'s was made for USENET, but it\'s still good.

if anyone read all that, please post your address so that I may hit you with a large blunt object...possibly a frozen trout