Toyota has a new ad campaign targeting African-American car buyers--true story. The best part of the article summarising the campaign in the NY Times are the quotes supplied by Toyota and the ad agency...which essentially describe any human being shopping for a car.
"The African-American market is looking for a vehicle that combines the utility of an S.U.V. with a more carlike ride,” features the RAV4 offers, said Bob Zeinstra, national manager for advertising and strategic planning for Toyota."
But wait, it gets even more awkward:
"She said the African-American car buyers whom Toyota was trying to reach were 25 to 49 years old, “active, youthful, with fairly old-fashioned values, some college education” and a household income of over $50,000. Introduced in 1996, the RAV4 is now in its third generation and has a base price of $22,475."
Old-fashioned values? Might want to not go there, Toyota.
But I'm not the only one expressing disdain:
"Rohit Deshpande, a professor of marketing at the Harvard Business School, criticized the campaign, calling it “something that was pasted on. The creative was not developed from the ground up, there’s nothing specific here to African-Americans except African-American models and what seems to be rather stereotypic patois coming out of a dog’s mouth."
Right.
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