kansaiwalker1

GM CHAIRMAN CRITICAL OF PRESS COVERAGE

Magazine Publishers Warned 'Biased' Coverage Could Affect Ad Spending
October 20, 2003

By Jon Fine
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AdAge.com) -- The chairman of General Motors North America today offered magazine executives both carrots and sticks in his mid-morning presentation

GM Chairman Robert A. Lutz warned publishers about unfavorable vehicle reviews in their magazines at the American Magazine Conference here.

For starters, Robert A. Lutz questioned the value TV ads bring to automakers. He cited a recent survey that found only 18% of car buyers reported a TV ad influenced their buying decision -- although attendees may have noticed that a comparable figure for magazine advertising was not included among the data he cited.

Press bias

Mr. Lutz went on to ding the press for instances of what he saw as a bias affecting coverage of Detroit automakers vs. the type of attention Japanese and European automakers receive.

More specifically, he cited reviews of sport utility vehicles in one issue of Primedia's Automobile magazine. In its review of a not-yet-available Mercedes model, a reference was made to the SUV's "sophisticated" electronics. But a roughly comparable system on an SUV made by GM's Cadillac division was dismissed as having "the usual Buck Rogers electronic hoo-hah."

To laughs from the audience, he said, "I am not making this up."

He told the audience of publishers that he did not "deny you your right" to write such reviews -- but reminded them that GM also had the right to determine where to spend its ad dollars and that it might not look kindly on what he termed "biased" reviews.

Charming malapropism

In a charming malapropism -- albeit one with serious implications -- he asked the rhetorical question "Why should we feed the hand that bites us?"

The audience, though, appeared to focus more on Mr. Lutz's remarks about TV than those about editorial coverage. Two key magazine executives, buttonholed in the lobby briefly after Mr. Lutz address, said they would love to provide a video of Mr. Lutz's remarks to sales reps making calls on carmakers.

neoprufrok

Ummm... so he's trying to buy good reviews? This really makes the magazines look better, if they don't respond to him. So what if he pulls advertising, he needs it more than the magazines. What he thinks Kia or another company won't take up that space. And who looks at his ads anyways.. they all suck. I like Lutz, but this is just plain retarded.

Red Nj-s

He has a point. The magazines are very biased against GM.

Moog-Type-S

Because GM products are recycled parts bin crap!! They rarely offer anything COMPLETELY New.

1SICKLEX

I agree, they are biased but no sh!t, such is life. GM has like 30 years of catching up to do. And most mags SAY they look for SPORT and if u don't have it, u lose out.

gavriil

I totaly agree. BUT! The best way to turn the mags and the audience is by making better cars consistently. ANd better means better from every standpoint.

heyitsme

he and the rest of the people at that company need to wake up. he speaks like the newer gm's have already reached the top of their class and are getting negative reviews, when in reality the xlr is the only thing to date that is pretty damn good all round.

cusdaddy

He definitely has a point, but GM really needs to start making quality cars all throughout the lineup. They made great strides with Cadillac, but they need to spread it through the other brands

Zapata

oh GM and rest of the domestics can suck it...... build a better product, price it lower, have better service........

zeroday

hey i agree with Zapata!!

kansaiwalker1

His ranting at the media is just like shooting the bearer of bad tidings. Will that make the bad news go away?

CLUofI

cliffs notes

"guys dont make fun of us, we are trying to be a good company. Just write some good reviews for us so we can sell some cars. If you dont we wont give you any cars to write about so we get even less publicity."