JAPAN-BASHING CAR ADS SEEM LIKELY TO BACKFIRE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 31, 1992                   TAG: 9201310200
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
JAPAN-BASHING CAR ADS SEEM LIKELY TO BACKFIRE
A renewed wave of harsh attacks on Japanese cars and trucks is inundating television and newspapers as something like the evil twin of the automotive industry's "Buy American" advertising.
In some of these passionate, possibly xenophobic pitches, the villain is depicted by rising suns, backed by sour-sounding string music meant to mimic the tones of the Japanese koto. And lest that be too subtle, there are remonstrations to remember Pearl Harbor.
The new ads stem from the perceived failure of President Bush's trade mission to Japan and from the recent criticism of American workers by Japanese politicians and business executives.
The ads not only praise American vehicles but also bash the Toyotas and Hondas of the world.
Typical is a television commercial by the Deutsch Inc. agency for the metropolitan New York Pontiac dealers. A stern-voiced announcer reminds viewers of the remarks by Yoshio Sakurauchi, a Japanese politician, calling Americans lazy and illiterate. The remarks are printed on screen against a rising sun.
The announcer says sarcastically, "Well, excuse us." After touting the attributes of the Pontiac Grand Am over the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry, he adds sneeringly, "Maybe they need a reading lesson."
Among other such campaigns are print advertisements for a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer in Anchorage, Alaska, that present World War II images from Pearl Harbor Day to V-J Day.
Such advertising is "tawdry political grandstanding and disgusting," said Robert Lauterborn, a professor of advertising at the University of North Carolina's journalism school at Chapel Hill.
A car-maker or dealer using this strategy "is digging a hole for himself," said Christopher Cedergren, senior vice president of the Auto Pacific Group, a Santa Ana, Calif., automotive marketing consulting company.
"I can understand why they're doing it," he said. "Business worse than stinks. But negative advertising like that, where you are basically scolding the consumer, doesn't do your business any good."
Such ads "may only frustrate the consumer, because it's difficult to determine what's a Japanese product and what's an American product," said David Stewart, a professor of marketing at the University of Southern California.
In addition, Cedergren said, "a lot of the dealers who are shouting `Buy American!' are the same dealers who own the Nissan dealership down the street."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB