Hyundai Spot’s Police Theme Draws Criticism
Hyundai is set to debut this week a new TV commercial for the Hyundai Sonata--featuring a high-speed police chase--that has sparked criticism because of similarities between the ad and the highly publicized police beating of Rodney G. King.
Officials of Hyundai and its ad agency insist that the commercial bears no relationship to the police incident, which was taped by an amateur photographer. But some observers say the ad is at best a marketing blunder that associates Hyundai with an unsavory event and, at worst, may stir charges of insensitivity to highly charged feelings about the controversy. The videotape, made after police chased King’s 1988 Hyundai Excel, has been shown repeatedly around the world.
“I’d question the appropriateness of the ad given the seriousness of the LAPD incident,” said Jim Hillson, vice president at the Beverly Hills advertising research firm Phase One, which specializes in automotive ad research. “Why would Hyundai want to fly in the face of a controversy that everyone in the country has been following?”
In fact, Hillson said, police departments nationwide are receiving so much bad publicity right now that no advertiser should consider airing any ad that features a police chase.
“I would encourage the company not to run the ad,” said Mark Ridley-Thomas, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and City Council candidate for the 8th District. “It would show responsible corporate citizenship not to risk being misunderstood in the midst of this crisis.”
Ramona Ripston, executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, added: “At this moment, it is tasteless for them to run this ad.”
A senior executive at the Los Angeles agency that creates ads for Toyota says he does not believe that executives at Hyundai or its ad agency want any connection at all with the Rodney King case. “It has to be a fluke,” said Stan Becker, vice chairman of the Torrance agency Saatchi & Saatchi DFS/Pacific. “Agencies want to create ads that everyone likes.”
Indeed, executives at Hyundai’s Irvine-based ad agency, Backer Spielvogel Bates, insist the commercial stands on its own. “In no way is this related to the (Rodney King) incident,” said James A. Sanfilippo, senior vice president. “Turn on almost any TV show and you’ll see a police chase.”
“There is no relationship whatsoever between this ad and the Rodney King incident,” said Tom Ryan, vice president of marketing at Hyundai Motor America Corp.’s Fountain Valley-based U.S. distribution arm.
Ryan said the commercial, believed to have cost about $300,000, was under development three months ago. After the publicity the Rodney King incident received in March, he said, Hyundai officials never discussed revising the TV spot. “There was no discussion about it because we saw no relationship,” he said.
After the videotape of the King incident surfaced, even officials at Hyundai were surprised by police claims that King drove a Hyundai at speeds exceeding 110 m.p.h.
The ad, which was filmed in San Pedro, is scheduled to debut nationally Thursday evening during NBC’s “Cheers.”
In the 30-second spot called “Chase,” the viewer sees a BMW being hotly pursued by an unmarked police car with flashing blue lights. The police car is a Sonata. An unseen narrator says it “out-accelerates” Taurus LX, Accord ES and Lexus ES 250. “It even handles as well as the $55,000 BMW 735 iL,” he says.
The BMW is overtaken by the policemen’s Sonata, and the driver’s hands are seen spread across the backside of the Sonata. As he is being frisked, he turns to the camera and asks, “Hyundai?” The unseen narrator responds with the Korean car company’s current slogan, “Yes, Hyundai.”
