Critical Articles on GM Cost Fortune Some Ad Revenue

General Motors Corp., unhappy over articles critical of the car maker in Fortune magazine’s Feb. 15 issue, said Wednesday that the company has pulled an eight-page advertisement insert scheduled to run in the publication this week.

The nation’s top car maker said the decision to cancel the advertisement was made after reading a series of stories that included an article by former GM board member H. Ross Perot entitled “How I Would Turn GM Around.”

Perot, an outspoken critic of GM, was ousted from the auto maker’s board in late 1986 in a $700-million buyout. He is the founder of Texas computer company Electronic Data Systems, which he sold to GM in late 1984.

Jack McNulty, GM’s vice president of public relations, said the cancellation was not intended as to rebuke Fortune. “We think it’s just bad business to run an ad in a negative environment,” he said.

McNulty said GM may not advertise in Fortune “for a while.”

The ad insert is part of a multimillion-dollar image-boosting campaign kicked off last month by the top car maker with a three-day technology and product showcase at New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel. GM is considering showing that exhibit in other major cities across the nation.

GM was the largest advertiser in Fortune last year with 77 pages of advertising space, according to Advertising Age, an industry publication.