ATA Blasts Chevy, Saturn Ads

December 14, 1999 10:14 AM, EST

Chevrolet has become the second automaker in recent weeks to experience the wrath of American Trucking Associations over advertising that shows trucks in a bad light.

Walter B. McCormick Jr., president of the trade organzation, sent a letter to Ronald Zarella, president of GM North America, taking Chevy Malibu to task for a television advertisement that depicted a car being menaced by tractor-trailers.

In the other case, McCormick wrote Cynthia M. Trudell, chairman of Saturn Corp., to protest an ad showcasing a Saturn owner who survived a collision after a truck ran a red light.

McCormick said in the letter that he was “appalled” that the Chevrolet ad depicted an auto cutting in front of trucks and depicted big trucks as an “ominous highway hazard.” He called the Saturn ad an “insult to professional truck drivers.”

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