GM makes another marketing misstep

Stuart Elliott writes today that GM has picked a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, in this case the Los Angeles Times. GM has decided to pull their advertising from the LA Times in response to a critical comment regarding GM management by one of their writers. Needless to say, this is a bad idea, as noted by one of the marketing executives quoted.

"It's archaic and naïve to not recognize that there ought to be a strong dividing line in the media between editorial content and advertising," said Michael Draznin, president of Marketing Branding Communications, a consulting company in New York. "They should not influence each other."

"Companies that deal with negative perceptions by withdrawing their ads are playing right into the hands of the critics," he added. "What they ought to do is keep the ad space, but change the message, addressing the negatives and keep moving ahead."

This just proves again that GM has forgotten a lot of the great marketing that made them the largest US carmaker.