Pulling ‘Burning Car’ Ads Gutless? Come on

I’d like to applaud Benetton for the excellent decision to pull its “Burning Car” billboards in the wake of the Los Angeles riots (“Marketers Rethinking Violent Ads,” May 14). It shows that someone in a corporate boardroom is paying attention. Good move.

Even though I found the ad somewhat off the mark, I have always been fond of the company’s bold, multicultural advertising. The vision in their ad campaign is light-years ahead of the whites-only, June Cleaver-style, ultra-suburban-crap advertising that we have to put up with daily on television and in print.

However, I was blown off my chair by the remarks made by ad executive Lee Kovel of Lord, Dentsu & Partners regarding Benetton’s actions.

He reportedly said: “They’re wimps for taking it down. It really fits the brand personality of Benetton. I’m sorry to see they removed it.”

Let me get this straight. This guy’s an ad exec? L.A.’s about burnt to a crisp with, say, a billion or so dollars in damage, lost jobs and some serious rethinking as far as race goes--and all this guy can come up with is “brand personality?”

Where was he during the cleanup effort? Munching on a bran muffin in a $30,000 Land Cruiser overlooking some cliff in Montana?

Despite the diversity of our culture, we are still saturated with lousy advertising that makes things worse by playing to the “us-and-them” syndrome. Kovel and other ad execs should follow Benetton’s lead.

DARRELL ROHMAN

Chino