Jezebel: toyota

"She Can Take A Good Pounding In Any Direction"

Intern Katy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:20:00 EST

Toyota pulled the winning entry in an online ad competition following complaints about its "incestuous overtones." The innuendo-filled clip shows a father speaking with his daughter's date, who assures him he will "have her on her back by eleven." [News.au.com]

Badvertising

Dodai — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:45:00 EST

Dodai here. You guys, the "Saved By Zero" Toyota commercial has eaten my brain. Whenever it comes on, I helplessly sing along. I hate the song, but I'm powerless against it! And it is useless to resist. Time magazine interviewed Dan Sarles, a recent business school graduate who is, according to the mag, "among a growing legion of viewers" who have complained about the ad on the Web. Sarles says: "It's right at that border, where it's catchy enough that it gets stuck in your head, but not good enough that you like it." For the uninitiated — or the masochistic — the commercial is embedded behind the jump. Saved by zero! [Time]

Dear America, Maybe Leave The Hoarding To Countries That Can't Live Off Their Fat For A Few Months?

Moe — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:30:00 EDT

"It is just unreal what can happen when we get fear being spread as it is now, and when the general populace goes out and starts doing idiotic things like lining up at the Sam's Club and the Costco and not buying one bag but buying 10 bags just because they might run out." [WSJ]
"It is shocking that people are now speculating on increases in food prices. Banks are telling their clients to bet on soaring prices. The result is that there is now an incentive for speculators to create food shortages. Casino capitalism has taken a seat at the table of the poor.[Economist]
(Rice, corn and wheat prices have risen 180 percent in the last three years.) [Der Spiegel]
The Egyptian army is baking bread; the Philippines is making rice hoarding punishable by life in prison. "For the middle classes," says Ms Sheeran, "it means cutting out medical care. For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster." [Economist]
And for Starbucks, it means measly 12% revenue growth. [WSJ]
For Haiti, dominoes and moonshine. [NYT]
OMG but will it mean the end for weak beer? [WSJ]

As if modern teenagers weren't worthless enough already, getting a summer job is now officially harder than getting into most Ivy League schools, especially Penn. [WSJ]
Well look here; an American automaker takes a few cues from Toyota and dedicates itself to making cars that don't break down and the strategy may actually be paying off? [WSJ]
President Barack Hussein Obama: the four scariest words in the English language? [Reason]
Some Dutch filmmaker thinks Jesus was the child of rape. Not sure how thorough his research was, but it's definitely not good for the "abortion is okay in cases of rape and incest" wing of the Church. [Reuters]
Congrats on your promotion, General Petreaus. [NYT]