Court Says Woman Can Sue Toyota After Being Tricked Into 'Agreeing' To Be 'Stalked' In Ad Campaign Gone Really Wrong
from the eulas-are-not-all-powerful dept
Two years ago, we wrote about how Amber Duick was suing Toyota for their ridiculous ad campaign that allowed people to totally freak out their friends by entering some info about them, and then having that friend be fake “stalked” by someone creepy who would start emailing, texting and calling the person, pretending to be planning to come to their house to stay with them. It was a bad idea all around, done by an ad agency who made the idiotic decision that young men like to “punk” their friends. And, of course, to make it seem “legit,” Toyota would trick the victim into “agreeing” by having something totally different sent to them (a personality test) from the friend, which has really broad terms of service.
Toyota sought to dismiss the case, by saying that Duick had agreed to these terms. However, as we predicted when the lawsuit was filed, that agreement isn’t standing up in court. The court has rejected Toyota’s argument, and is allowing Duick’s lawsuit to go forward against Toyota and others associated with the campaign.
The question I’m still trying to answer is what sort of thought process leads anyone to think this kind of campaign is a good idea?
Filed Under: ad campaign, punked, stalking, viral marketing
Companies: toyota
Comments on “Court Says Woman Can Sue Toyota After Being Tricked Into 'Agreeing' To Be 'Stalked' In Ad Campaign Gone Really Wrong”
I for one think it’s sweet they let a retarded man do their marketing.
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Why do you assume it was all men who came up with the idea?
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And have mike film you in the shower.
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I put up a show especially for him.
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As long as he shares the profits with me 😀
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Eh, I’ll just pirate it.
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Nah, it’s a reverse version of rtb – you pay him *not* to have to see AC in the shower 😉
I blame the stupid reality shows. Expecially the MTV show Punk’d.
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I blame Toyota and the marketting firm they hired. Quit trying to pin secondary liability.
So if the TOS are void because Toyota ?misrepresented and concealed (whether intentionally or not) the true nature of the conduct to which Duick was to be subjected,? this is very good news. It’s the intentionally part that gets me — seems to imply that if the TOS don’t mean what you think they mean, they don’t necessarily apply to you. Given that almost nobody reads them anyway, this could open the door for a lot of entertaining lawsuits.
WTF, over?
Human speech contains no words adequate to describe the magnitude of the idiocy of this so-called ad campaign.
My gast is totally flabbered.
Re: Perhaps these fellows can help
Boss: Why did you do it?
Frog: It was a joke.
Boss: A joke? (holds up card saying ‘joke’)
Frog: No, no not a joke, a sales campaign. (holds up a card saying ‘No, a Sales Campaign)
Conquistador Coffee Campaign
or here to watch it.
Re: WTF, over?
“My gast is totally flabbered.”
No, no, your flabber is totally gasted.
Mine too.
Not a thought process, just weed.
1. Scare the hell out of people with some sort of stupidity
2. ???
3. Profit!
Seriously, that’s the same tactic that movie studios and record companies use. They scare the hell out of people as part of an “education campaign” (or whatever they want to call it), something happens, and they expect dough to come rolling in.
drugs. oddly enough i was just picturing the scene myself…
finally….a ray of brilliance strikes, and a week later chicago thinks the aqua teen hunger force has declared jihad.
Just when I thought ad campaigns couldn’t get any dumber than Microsoft’s. I’m proven wrong.
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Everybody DOS now!
And nobody better punch me when seeing a VW
I don’t know if it will come to legal action, but a good ass wippin seems more than likely.
I wonder if Toyota is shocked that a court decided that a TOS is not this great bulletproof shield that want it to be.
I can see the “ultrahip” marketing idea, the fact that anyone who said against about the down sides was dismissed as being to old to understand. And the Toyota execs who signed off were most likely just playing their role in the Emperors New Clothes.
Would it be “hip” to snipe the stalker?
This is a step in the right direction, as this person will be allowed their day in in court. It remains to be seen whether they will prevail. Hopefully, trickery and slight of hand will lose.
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Jury Trial solves many of these things.
You should have a hard time getting a juror to accept the idea that a 3rd party can sign you up for something, that the company can get your approval in an underhanded way, and then expect it will all be ok for the corporation who did this.
Toyota should be preparing to settle the case, rather than create a case that makes a point about how far you can stretch TOS.
They should sue the ad agency themselves and try to divert energy to trying to fix this huge failure. It is not the “best” course of action according to the MBA handbook, but given their recent beatings in the press and their management of that(outright lying) – its time to take the egg on the face, apologize, pay a small settlement and move on rather than end up trying to kick the woman they managed to terrorize in the first place.
How good of a relationship can you have with an agency who has 1 claim to fame and that is – Our campaign was so cutting edge and trendy our client got sued.
Coment
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