Court Says Woman Can Sue Toyota After Being Tricked Into 'Agreeing' To Be 'Stalked' In Ad Campaign Gone Really Wrong
from the eulas-are-not-all-powerful dept
Two years ago, we wrote about how Amber Duick was suing Toyota for their ridiculous ad campaign that allowed people to totally freak out their friends by entering some info about them, and then having that friend be fake "stalked" by someone creepy who would start emailing, texting and calling the person, pretending to be planning to come to their house to stay with them. It was a bad idea all around, done by an ad agency who made the idiotic decision that young men like to "punk" their friends. And, of course, to make it seem "legit," Toyota would trick the victim into "agreeing" by having something totally different sent to them (a personality test) from the friend, which has really broad terms of service.Toyota sought to dismiss the case, by saying that Duick had agreed to these terms. However, as we predicted when the lawsuit was filed, that agreement isn't standing up in court. The court has rejected Toyota's argument, and is allowing Duick's lawsuit to go forward against Toyota and others associated with the campaign.
The question I'm still trying to answer is what sort of thought process leads anyone to think this kind of campaign is a good idea?
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Filed Under: ad campaign, punked, stalking, viral marketing
Companies: toyota
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WTF, over?
My gast is totally flabbered.
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Perhaps these fellows can help
Frog: It was a joke.
Boss: A joke? (holds up card saying 'joke')
Frog: No, no not a joke, a sales campaign. (holds up a card saying 'No, a Sales Campaign)
Conquistador Coffee Campaign
or here to watch it.
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Re: WTF, over?
No, no, your flabber is totally gasted.
Mine too.
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Not a thought process, just weed.
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1. Scare the hell out of people with some sort of stupidity
2. ???
3. Profit!
Seriously, that's the same tactic that movie studios and record companies use. They scare the hell out of people as part of an "education campaign" (or whatever they want to call it), something happens, and they expect dough to come rolling in.
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finally....a ray of brilliance strikes, and a week later chicago thinks the aqua teen hunger force has declared jihad.
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And nobody better punch me when seeing a VW
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I can see the "ultrahip" marketing idea, the fact that anyone who said against about the down sides was dismissed as being to old to understand. And the Toyota execs who signed off were most likely just playing their role in the Emperors New Clothes.
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You should have a hard time getting a juror to accept the idea that a 3rd party can sign you up for something, that the company can get your approval in an underhanded way, and then expect it will all be ok for the corporation who did this.
Toyota should be preparing to settle the case, rather than create a case that makes a point about how far you can stretch TOS.
They should sue the ad agency themselves and try to divert energy to trying to fix this huge failure. It is not the "best" course of action according to the MBA handbook, but given their recent beatings in the press and their management of that(outright lying) - its time to take the egg on the face, apologize, pay a small settlement and move on rather than end up trying to kick the woman they managed to terrorize in the first place.
How good of a relationship can you have with an agency who has 1 claim to fame and that is - Our campaign was so cutting edge and trendy our client got sued.
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Coment
2015 Toyota Release Date
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