Nissan scolded one of its dealers Tuesday for releasing an ad showing the battering of a piñata resembling Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Automotive News is reporting.
The ad depicts salesmen repeatedly hitting a Trump-looking piñata and declaring, “At Van Nuys Nissan, Latinos rule.” The ad was made after Trump denounced some undocumented Mexican immigrants as “rapists” in a June political speech.
“We find these advertisements to be neither responsible or respectful, and we do not condone what they represent,” Nissan said in a statement. “We expect our dealers to establish advertising that is responsible and respectful and represents the best interest of the Nissan brand.”
Commenters have blasted Nissan of Van Nuys for airing the ad.
“I’m Hispanic, and I’m embarrassed for you. I’d never go to your dealership based on your crappy reviews. The idiotic piñata thing is the icing on the cake,” one commenter wrote. “Van Nuys Nissan, get your PR crew together and get rid of that racist manager.”
Nissan said it respected the dealer’s right to free speech.
Of course, this is hardly the first dealer to air a controversial ad. Nor is it the most entertainingly profane (link NSFW, obviously).
F*ck you, Baltimore!
As much as I revile Mr. Trump, I will say that for a business like a car dealership to pull this kind of stunt is… really not that bright.
Also, TTAC, I’m not sure what’s changed, but attempting to use your comments box in the past few days has resulted in Chrome nearly crashing and pegging my CPU for many seconds at a time. It’s getting bad enough that I almost can’t comment. Unless this is a kinder-and-gentler technique to cull the unwanted from among the B&B, I’m gonna assume it’s a bug you might want to look into. I’ve noticed it on a few different computers and a tablet, too, so it’s not super architecture-dependent.
FWIW.
might be a chrome thing. ive heard about several people on other sites claiming chrome is hogging resources and being buggy
More memorable than some B roll footage alone, less offensive than just B roll footage of the new creature of the abyss Maxima.
Trump is just jealous because the pinata has better hair.
+1
The hair on the piñata is not a comb over.
Best low budget TV commercial…EVER.
you tube.com/watch?v=ItWpoUMbqJE
I prefer this one!
https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=drpVHWKtQb0
It’s just like… it’s just like.. a MINI-Mall.
Best low budget at ever was for a Scion dealership in San Diego. It featured some frenetic rock music with the lyric “Scion more mpg. Scion is good for you and good for me”. The imagery was just Scions driving furiously around on the beach (probably Mexico) with lots of rapid cuts.
Comedy gold that emphasized almost no benefits or features of the car, but it stuck in your mind. It must be 6-7 years since it aired, and I still remember it.
If you’re from St. Louis you remember this one…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IX6iIdNFUQ
And I’m going with Corey’s as a winnah…ding ding ding!!!!
Stupid commercial contest? I’m in.
Keeping with the car dealership theme of the article:
Didn’t post my link. Hope it works this time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaMP_Z93X84
This one’s priceless.. Ralph Williams in SF Bay Area, ’60s…
How about scumbag dealerships worry about cleaning up their images before they go berating scumbag billionaires?
If it increases your business, bless you.
If another dealership wants to do an add praising the glories of Trump, so be it.
It is up to the consumer to decide.
You can’t blame the OEM for worrying about its brand. Nissan doesn’t want to alienate anyone.
You also can’t blame the dealership for trying to get attention from a target market.
Car dealerships and rap music don’t mix, particularly when the rapper is a white guy in Alberta. Yo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSZt5iqZ00Q
That was physically painful to watch.
For an added bonus, it happened to be a Mitsubishi dealer.
They got Mitsu Mad Money Credit, yo. B!TCH. (Jesse Pinkman voice)
Yo yo yo DJ Johnny D let me slip you into the Mistubishi … wait… Phil which models do we still have to sell again?
The irony of the car brand was not lost on either of us.
I noticed THAT immediately.
More evidence that white Canadians, cars and rap music don’t mix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk408qbT5Go
One can only hope that this is some kind of treaty violation and that bombing can commence in five minutes.
“More evidence that white Canadians, cars and rap music don’t mix”
Derek would disagree with you.
All Van Nuys Blvd. dealers pretty much treat their customers like that pinata…
Some people would pay extra for that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8N7n0ABWgQ
Definitely not something a major corporation would welcome, but fun to watch. The real-life Trump looks like a pinata, in any case.
The people who made that commercial are fascist statist socialist communist Muslim atheist Nazi leftist pinko gangster thugs who hate Jesus. Or something like that.
El nombre es Jesu Cristo.
Everybody knows that Christ was a Chicano.
Why else would his parents have named him Jesus?
We know Jesus was Jewish because he took up his father’s trade, lived at home until he was 30, and his mother thought he was God.
But then again, he could have been Irish because he never held a steady job, walked everywhere, and his last request was for something to drink.
On the other hand, he had a Puerto Rican name…
You left out Progressive.
Isn’t that an insurance company?
I did my good deed for the day. Everyone who has been playing TTAC Right Wing Comment Bingo just scored a win.
Now I am imagining the dealer is beating up a blow up version of Flo. Soooo satisfying.
I’m oddly surprised nobody has beat you to the punch yet…
I have to admit that I kinda have a thing for her.
She actually is quite attractive but she turns me off in the Flo garb.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0183960/
No, the dealers need Flo. Progressive is often the insurer of last resort. When everyone else says your subprime buyer can’t have insurance, Flo is there.
In Michigan, they often insure people through the state sponsored Assigned Claims Plan. Getting you license back after your third DUI? Welcome to Progressive.
Ironic.
If buying a subprime car is what it takes to be with Flo, then bring me to my Mirage.
Flo is going to make you pay though. She isn’t giving out free sprinkles.
I love Flo but she’s just out of my league. The last couple of times I’ve shopped for car insurance Progressive has been double or more the lowest price.
My wife looks like Stephanie Courtney (Flo), and was Flo for Halloween a few years ago. Flo seems more friendly though.
Why bother, don’t they know that Mexicans prefer Chebbies and not those el cheapo Japanese tin cans.
Yet Nissan is the top brand in Mexico. Go figure.
You’re gonna upset Gtem who will be here shortly to talk about the Tsuru (B13 Sentra).
Nissan Tiidas everywhere.
Once they cross the border, they become Americanos and want to buy American cars
It’s got to be local. A Latino in a shall remain unnamed city in the SF Bay Area, once explained to me that the reason Latinos paid more for a GMC was not for the design, but because the Chevy dealer was racist….. And I’ve heard similar stories of GM serving “both markets,” in both directions, from African Americans.
Come on TTAC, don’t leave me hanging. Where is the overt Trump love that his crowd is surely affected by?
As for Nissan, they’re not going to piss off any group if they can, even if it’s full blown bigots and dunderheads. Personally, I say go for it. I would be just as peeved if it was somebody I like but I recognize there have been plenty of local anti-obama ads out of various mom and pop style stores that have been all too happy to capitalize on red state hate. Nothing wrong with Latinos muscling in on a guy who basically called 17% of America rapists, whores, and dregs.
Not much Trump love here.
(That’s why it’s called the B&B)
I’m perfectly fine with a company choosing to take a publicly neutral stance on a political or social issue. I don’t need Volkswagen to do an entire series of Black History specials for the month of February to know that it supports black people, or more appropriately, that it doesn’t actively support causes that are deliberately harmful to black people. Likewise, if I were Latino, I wouldn’t need to see a silly ad like this to know that the dealership doesn’t support Trump’s bigoted comments.
It’s just a tacky money grab, anyway. I almost think it’s insulting to the Latino community. They’re not just going to rush out and buy your cars because you took a stick to a Trump piñata. Please…
You would be surprised how effective shared value judgments actually are to people. It’s half the reason why hobby magazines and the car journalist industry exists at all. People want to belong and by actively courting their social position they are more inclined to trust you. The evidence has generally there is little direct impact in these actions, a few percentage points up or down if a company is big enough but a car dealer in a large latino community could pick up major sales for a few weeks/months off it.
It’s really quite interesting to discuss perception since it’s 9/10ths of reality. The commercial has little impact on you and I because we’re basically bystanders (since I don’t think either of us are Latinos or fans of Trump). But to be within that social group, it’s like a giant light shining out there telling you everything will be fine.
I guess you’re right…
I am black, but I don’t necessarily feel comforted by a business that publicly claims to support minorities. All I ask is that the business not publicly support programs and systems that harm minorities. And even then, I’m not terribly wrapped up in the political doings and beliefs of the CEOs of these companies, like some people are. “Oh, don’t go to Such-and-Such restaurant chain because So-and-So, who’s the CEO, just funded $X-hundred-thousand dollars toward Y campaign.”
Please…
It’s not bright, and it’s not good, but is it really worse than most other local car dealer ads? Most of which boil down to 1) something about the car dealer’s personality, 2) current deals on cars, and 3) contact information. I can’t imagine anything outside of #’s 2 and 3 are tractable to most people.
On the other hand he calls himself “El Guapo” *in the ad*, which seems…well…………
Nissan is VERY strict, they’d published a 24-page treatise a few years back on acceptable language and terms for dealer advertising.
Among the main rules is that any ads believed to cheapen the Nissan brand will not receive co-op advertising dollars, a key incentive for dealers whose companies offer such programs.
Volkswagen’s guidelines are strict as well. I’ve been reading through them for the last five days. And Volkswagen doesn’t even give you the choice of doing what you want and losing your co-op advertising dollars; it just plainly says “You are not to do X as part of your franchise agreement with us.”
Then I guess the trunk monkey ads are off limits unless it’s a trunk Monkee…
Yankees are generally all clueless about the Southern Border. The question is why this dealership will pulverize a nativist Yankee in effigy, yet turn a blind eye to the open borders and sanctuary city brigades.
Why do we obsess about uncouth behavior and ignore incompetent governance? Makes no sense.
disgruntled Red Sox fan?
I don’t agree with Trump either, and while I can normally separate a candidate’s personality from his political stance, I think that Trump is just an all-around jerk.
That said, this particular stunt is extremely low-brow and just generally likely to cause more harm than anything, and I can understand Nissan not wanting its brand to have anything to do with it…
There’s a popular theory making the rounds that Trump is a mole planted by left-wingers to destroy the GOP.
leftwingers have enough troubles of their own to deal with. Old, pasty white presidential candidates, just for starters.
The other loony conspiracy theory about Trump is that he’s a mole planted by the GOP to protect the legit GOP candidates, both by distracting attention from their foibles and by allowing them to act righteously outraged when he does something stupid.
No conspiracy theories needed, though. The guy is just a publicity hound who will do or say anything if it gets him and his brand in the news. He wants to market to lower-income whites and this is a hell of a way to do it.
I can see why Nissan would be mad when one of their dealers advertise that “latinos rule” at the dealership. It might not be a bad thing for the dealer though as the population of California has tilted in their favor.
“California’s Hispanic/Latino population has surpassed non-Hispanic whites. The Census Bureau released new number, which showed that as of July 1, 2014, the 14.99 million Latinos living in California have outnumbered the 14.92 million whites in the state.”
http://www.latinpost.com/articles/65220/20150710/californias-latino-hispanic-population-now-outnumbers-non-white.htm
A 2015 Altima for $89/month? Maybe with a $15K down payment.
So Nissan is the brand for Latinos. I knew that. Rental companies lately always push Altimas when I come to rent a car, I may look like Latino which is not so far fetched – I look like one. “Inconvenient Truth 2” starring Donald Trump.