From the Fresno Bee:

Prius ad joke angers Fresno
Spot that likens city to a pit stop has riled officials, led to Toyota apology.
By James Guy / The Fresno Bee

Toyota isn't getting a lot of mileage out of a new ad campaign for its fuel-efficient Prius -- at least not in Fresno.

The commercial, which implies that you would only stop here if you were low on gas, is sparking rebukes from Central Valley residents, city officials and even U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

And now Toyota is issuing a recall for the TV spot, which the company admits was ill conceived.

"I did not like it one bit," said Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, who complained to Feinstein's office, prompting a "scathing" missive from the senator to Toyota officials.

The ad, created by Atlanta-based 22Squared for Toyota dealers in the Southeast U.S., could be viewed Friday on the Internet Web site YouTube.

It depicts two people in a Prius "in the future," where "gas stations will become nothing more than low-budget tourist stops. Like ghost towns ... or Fresno."

Feinstein's letter to Shige Hayakawa, president of Toyota North America, expresses "profound disappointment with the current Toyota Prius advertising campaign which gratuitously insults the city of Fresno."

That prompted Irving A. Miller, group vice president for Toyota corporate communications, to issue an apology Friday "to the great city of Fresno for this commercial."

He said the commercial was "edited overnight to remove any reference to Fresno and we have implemented a series of controls that will allow us to monitor future local advertising to prevent this type of error from occurring."

Autry has his view of why the ad agency would pick on Fresno.

"These folks really don't have a lot of creativity," he said. Singling out the city is something that "just rears up every now and then.

"We may not have a bay or a beach, but if you're looking for a place to raise a family, Fresno doesn't have a peer."

City Council Member Mike Dages thinks taking shots at Fresno goes all the way back to the early 1980s, when then-Mayor Dan Whitehurst went on a late-night television show and made a number of self-deprecating remarks about the city.

"Perception is a tough thing to get rid of," he said.

"But I don't know how many people from Fresno are going to buy a Prius. Agencies should know better than that."

Council Member Jerry Duncan also sent a letter of complaint to the Toyota chief.

"Enough," he said. "We're tired of it."

Council Member Henry T. Perea joked that perhaps the whole thing was a geographical error.

"Maybe they're talking about Fresno, Texas," he said.

He added: "It's important for Fresno to push a progressive agenda and those types of things will be a thing of the past.

"I will forgive Toyota if they locate a Prius factory here."



Results of Fresno Bee's online poll:

Toyota calls Fresno a low-budget tourist stop. Thoughts?
I'm boycotting the Prius now - 19%
Fresno deserves to be a punchline - 41%
Tourists stop here? - 35%
I need to read fresnobeehive.com more - 6%

As far as I know, the ad did NOT say anything about California. Hey, use Fresno,TX. I DON'T CARE. I would think the mayor and Senator would have more IMPORTANT things to worry about. I guess they don't.

Thin skins on display I think.
As Mark (Chopper} Reid would say, "harden the f*** up!"
Did anyone send Fresno Mayor Alan Autry a tissue to wipe his eyes?

i really liked that add to. everyone i know liked it. nobody likes fresno.. any of them. lol

we used to crack jokes about fresno a while back.. then we forgot it existed

sigh... too much humor for our officials... figures.

fresno knows they suck... it's the only reason they took claim to the name.

My son went to Fresno State University some years back. There they refered to Fresno and the surrounding area as 'rasin hell'; a reference to local agriculture and the weather.