More Skeletons in the Closet for "Friendly" Toyota

[Nasty_SS]

Originally Posted by tholland

Nice!

I just don't get how a company with these practices can be the world's most reputable company.

paid for propaganda.....by the MOVING YOU FOWARD COMPANY

[eaton53]

Nary a peep on TTAC about this.
If it were GM you can bet it would've been up yesterday...

[Nasty_SS]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

And so the UAW has not outlived it's usefulness, since it has achieved it's goals. Labour laws now do their job.

BUT LABOR LAWS DONT WORK OR GET WEAKENED WHEN BONEHEADED AMERICANS VOTE REPUBLICAN ....AND TURN THEIR BACKS ON WORKING PEOPLE












REPUBLICAN..

[AndrewGS]

I'm forwarding it to all my local news outlets and the major national outlets. Doubt it will do any good.

[AMERICA 123]

Originally Posted by Smoke

I e-mailed this to my local stations and you guys should do the same. I am tired of Toyota never getting bashed while it is a daily occurence for the Detroit 3.

Good job - on your part !

Here is part of story on how they 'get that done'.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...ge_top+stories

Inside the War Against China's Blogs

Vengeful bloggers? Flaming posts? PR firms help global brands navigate the country's perilous Web

Daqi's Zhou: Her firm tracks 500,000 online forums for clients MARK LEONG/REDUX

By Dexter Roberts
June 23, 2008

BEIJING - It had the makings of an online crisis that could spiral out of control. A man in Tianjin had put a deposit on a Toyota (TM) Corolla, then started venting on the Internet when the car failed to show up after three months.

Given the anti-Japan sentiment that rages in China's cyberspace, the griping created a big risk for Toyota—something the company learned four years ago when it was attacked for ads seen as disrespectful to Chinese.

Enter Daqi.com. The Beijing-based firm spotted the disgruntled consumer's postings in one of the 500,000 online forums it regularly searches. Before the topic could draw much attention, -

A public-relations agency representing Toyota says the company has worked with Daqi but declined to address the specifics of this incident.

- These companies charge $500-$25,000 monthly to monitor postings and squelch negative information or to create positive buzz.

WINNING SYMPATHY

When online commentary turns negative, the monitors assess whether it might flare up.

They figure out who's generating the criticism—an irate consumer, a nationalist teen, even a rival.

Then they consider how fast the complaint is spreading, and whether it's likely to be picked up by Web portals such as Sohu and Sina.

"You know it's a crisis when Sohu (SOHU) or Sina (SINA) has created a special page to collect all the news articles and aggregate comments," as they did when bloggers angry about Tibet called for a boycott of Carrefour in April, says Flemming.

Plenty of companies are willing to pay for positive spin.

PR outfits hire students to write postings that boost certain brands and criticize the competition, says a staffer at a Western PR firm in Beijing.

The job description of one online help-wanted ad reads: "Publicize and popularize [products] via online forums and blogs.

Send at least 50 propaganda posts per day." Workers are offered 1.5 cents per post.

Chinese Web Union is candid about doing this.

It pays thousands of people to write nice things about clients, and it compensates forum leaders who spread positive information and quash bad publicity, says CEO Zhong Zhaochuan. "We write out topics and give them to members to put on forums," says Zhong.

That's what CWU did for a big Subaru dealer last year.

The Japanese automaker had raised the ire of Netizens because its Chinese name sounds like "death to the Eighth Route army," which was perceived as insulting to a Chinese unit that battled Japan in World War II.

CWU urged forum leaders to delete negative comments, then asked its writers to post positive news about Subaru, Zhong says.

This also explains a great deal of the posting patterns by certain members right here at GMI.

In fact, it pretty much explains GM's and Toyota's relative positioning on the Internet in general.

We seem to have our own assigned full time monitors, topic introduction specialists, and GP spin Doctors - the only question is are they Toyota Corp. or a vendor or independent contractors.

Maybe PhishPhood could clarify that for us.

[Frankster177]

Originally Posted by Saturn69

Because a great many people could care less about the people that make the products we use. It's too Leftist to care if that shoe maker in Vietnam has had a day off, just don't make me pay a fair price for the shoe, that's Capitalism. It's all touchy-feely to wonder if the Burmese girl who sewed your shirt together is being beaten for not working fast enough, just keep 'em coming.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
its too rightest to care, not too leftist.
Right wingers dont care about anything besides money and spreading american imperialism.

[Bvonscott]

Originally Posted by AMERICA 123

They quite possibly and I'm not joking when I say this, may have the most successful Propaganda machine the World has ever known.

That's the truth of it. Toyota has become a master of bending public perception to its will. They are so sucssesfull at it that it's causing the demise of our American auto companies.

[SCCA1995]

Originally Posted by usa1

If this makes the mainstream media, people will run to Toyota's defense and find examples of where GM and Ford do the same, or did 30 years ago, to make Toyota look better.

Mark

That's sad, isn't it. People would have to look very far back. But, where as unions have made the US auto factories better places to work, this abuse is still happening by Toyota. Take that Toyota-lovers.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by Nasty_SS

Everyone Here In The Good Ole Usa Who Buys A Toyota Should Work Overtime Voluntary And Be Unpaid Too....see How They Like It ....and Just Maybe Their Companies Will Turn A Strong Profit Too. Non Union Is Still Slave Labor ...no Matter What Certain Jack Offs Have To Say About It....

I'm non-union and I'm not a slave, you jack-off...

[joemac]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

How in the **** can sweat shop workers bolt together better cars than the overpaid unionized workers over here?

Well when your literally imprisoned in what seems can be a life of death scenario, one would do a fantastic job of bolting the thing together.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by Nasty_SS

BUT LABOR LAWS DONT WORK OR GET WEAKENED WHEN BONEHEADED AMERICANS VOTE REPUBLICAN ....AND TURN THEIR BACKS ON WORKING PEOPLE












REPUBLICAN..

I voted Liberal in the last federal election, and Conservative in the last provincial election.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by joemac

Well when your literally imprisoned in what seems can be a life of death scenario, one would do a fantastic job of bolting the thing together.

So the UAW has had it wrong all these years, you're saying.

[joemac]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

I'm non-union and I'm not a slave, you jack-off...

And you can largely thank the union movement for establishing the 40 hour work week, work place rights and safety we enjoy today. No name calling needed.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by joemac

And you can largely thank the union movement for establishing the 40 hour work week, work place rights and safety we enjoy today. No name calling needed.

I used the name he used for me. And yes, unions had a purpose and it was very important. Thanks for a job well done, now what?

[FenwickHockey65]

Unions did a good job in the past. Now they're just destroying corporations with their incessant bitching.