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Lexus To Start Spamming Car Buyers In Their Cars
techmuse writes "Lexus has announced plans to send targeted messages to buyers of its cars based on the buyer's zip code and vehicle type. Unlike regular spam, these messages will be delivered directly to the buyer's vehicle, and will play to the vehicle's occupants as audio. Lexus has promised to make the messages relevant to the car buyers." Imagine the fun that some targeted malware could do — not that such a thing could happen to a Lexus.
Have these people lost their minds? I spend $60,000 for an automobile and now it will spam me while driving it? Are you serious, Lexus? What could possibly motivate these people to want to spam their customers AFTER a purchase? We are getting closer and closer to Idiocracy.
Toyota officials promise to be discerning and restrained.
"We're not going to barrage customers with marketing messages," vows Jon Bucci, vice president of Toyota's U.S. advanced technology unit.
Yeah... and cable television will always be uncensored and commercial free... and sattilite radio will always be uncensored and commercial free...
What's that you say? It might be like other software and have occasional security holes in it? I'm sure that won't be a problem.
How long before the first law suit claiming the ad is responsible for whatever driving calamity happened?
I can't believe this made it through a thought/mouth filter.
Take your car back and ask for a refund. Even if you don't get it at least you will have made it very clear to the dealership that you are extremely unhappy and want to take back your business.
Also try to get in touch with someone fairly high up in Toyota's management / marketing at their corporate HQ and explain to them that you will never buy Toyota again and why. In the mean time keep complaining on the Internet and contact the local business / consumer watch-dogs (Better Business Bureau or whatever) and tell them that it was not made clear to you that your information would be used this way and that you are outraged.
It's a lot of work but this crap has to stop.
I'm self-employed and actually work as an advertiser (and I expect to wake up next to a dead horse tomorrow for admitting that here on /.) but I've never been tempted to think up ways to annoy users like this. In fact, I'm of the mind that making customers happy is the best road to success. I know. It's a pretty radical way to think. Give customers what they want, customers pay you and, *gasp*, come back!
I guess I'm old fashioned. I watch all of my colleagues come out with all of these flash ads and flash pop-ups etc. and I scratch my head wondering how these things catch on. I've had good success sticking to clean, simple, non-obtrusive ads and have never received a single complaint. Consequently my web-site user-base and my bottom line grow month after month (who'd'a thunk it!?). I will never understand why people think there is money in pissing people off.