Friday, April 10

Tsk tsk

A few years ago, Toyota Motors used the wrong word in the headline of ads appearing in magazines, on television, and the Internet. I couldn’t believe it, and sent them an email pointing out the error. Within a week they made the correction but never acknowledged my letter. They were embarrassed, I guess.

Now Toyota’s main competition, Honda, has used a wrong word in an ad for their Acura division in a two-page ad (double truck, in adspeak) in a prime position in the April 6, 2009 issue of The New Yorker magazine. I felt the familiar stab in the heart when I saw it.

Hint: They used a noun, thinking it was a verb.

The ad agency gets lots of money for ads like this. They should do more Acurate work.

4 comments:

Hhhorses said...

Today I mailed my taxes off to the IRS, and though the forms were in an envelope, they weren't enveloped by it. Interesting.

Are you going to contact Honda and let them know how Acurate their ads are?

You really should be highly paid as a proofreader for major companies and their ad agencies.

Tom Hurley said...

I wouldn’t expect a response. Never got one from Toyota, Apple, or Adobe. In Photoshop they still have their filter labeled “Liquify.”

Hhhorses said...

What word did Apple misuse? I remember Toyota being "everyday" ordinary, and of course I have to Liquify things daily in Photoshop.

Tom Hurley said...

I forget the things on Apple’s Web site that I have told them about; it’s many occasions, though. Let me mull that one over and I’ll see if anything can be dredged up from the slowly rotting memory.