Letters to the Editor: Monster Ad

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img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>I am a state-certified CDL examiner and CDL-certified truck operator. I’m currently the safety and compliance director for a large transportation company. I am disappointed to hear that the ATA strongly opposed the Monster.com ad that ran during the Super Bowl. The association has taken the position that the ad made light of truck safety.

Several months ago, the ATA corresponded on behalf of thousands of CDL operators who voiced their displeasure and anger regarding a Shell oil company ad that depicted a combination vehicle driving alongside a woman in a car with her child. The scene was shot on a rainy night, the air horn on the truck was blowing and a look of fear came over the woman. I concur that that ad was in poor taste. The ATA took the correct position then and every smart truck operator appreciated their efforts. However, this time, it’s a little different story.

Of all the industries Monster.com could have picked to showcase a career opportunity, they picked trucking. How lucky can we get? Companies need good drivers and plenty of them. Trucking got four free ads on the highest-viewed TV program of the entire year and it didn’t cost the industry one thin dime.

The Monster.com ad was a riot. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken with who saw the ad for what it was: very funny. Surely the former doctors, engineers, pilots and teachers turned truck drivers got the joke. The ATA should have, too.

Doug Masser

i>Denver

I think the reaction to the ad by Monster.com was probably as bad as the ad itself.

It was a joke, get it?

Most people who watched the Super Bowl were probably getting a snack or elsewhere when the ad ran, and those who might have taken it seriously should probably be recycled in our pathetic school systems for lack of an ability to discern fiction from reality. I saw it and guessed correctly that it was intended to be a humorous ad.

It’s good to see that our business and government have taken care of so many important issues that they have time for this debate.

Bill Straw

I>Sarasota, Fla.

Hey, truckers, stop your whining about the Monster.com ad and how it affects your image. If you are so worried about your image, then do your day-to-day job correctly and legally.

My home is adjacent to a street from which my community has banned trucks. There are signs clearly posted, showing no trucks allowed. But what do I regularly see? Truck drivers breaking the law by ignoring the signs and using the street as a shortcut to industrial sites about three miles from my home.

Also, what about the life-threatening tailgating on the highways because a car is traveling too slowly for your taste?

The tailgating and the illegal street usage are directly contrary to the statement on the ATA Web site, which says, in part, “. . . the efforts of all of the trucking companies and professional drivers whose No. 1 priority is to safely operate their vehicles each and every day.”

So please stop the holier-than-thou attitude and be honest with yourselves and the American public. Remember, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, and your “glass house” is every street and highway from coast to coast.

Don Strahn

I>Joliet, Ill.

These letters appear in the Feb. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.