Social Marketing Backlash In China Over Murdered Baby

Hyundai and Buick are feeling the heat in China, and the industry might rethink past practices of freewheeling Twitter snark. Hyundai and a Buick dealer made remarks about the quality of their products after a 2-month-old baby was abducted along with the RAV4 it was in. Chinese commenters did not like it at all. On Tuesday, car and hijacker were found after one of China's largest manhunts. The suspect confessed to strangling the child and dumping the body in the snow. According to Bloomberg, "a posting on Hyundai's Weibo account on March 6 made references to a missing child and vehicle as it promoted the safety features of the new imported Santa Fe SUV.," causing a backlash from micro-bloggers on Weibo. Hyundai deleted the post and apologized. A day before, Liaoning Tianhe Buick wrote: "A few thoughts following the Changchun stolen car and child incident: When buying a car it's completely okay to choose brands with better technology. Tianhe Buicks carry the OnStar GPS system, which can track down the location of a stolen vehicle at any time and automatically report it to the police. Feel at ease, have peace of mind, if you're going to buy a car, why not choose a completely safe Buick!!!." Dayna Hart, a Shanghai-based spokeswoman for GM, told Bloomberg GM is monitoring the situation and isn't ready yet to comment. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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