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Simply Audiobooks Removes Controversial “Bush” Billboards
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Added: 09/04/2006
Type: Summary
Viewed: 263 time(s)
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Simply Audiobooks Removes Controversial “Bush” Billboards
Simply Audiobooks, North America’s top source for audio books, announced today that it will be pulling its “George Bush – Don’t Read Enough?” campaign from billboards throughout Toronto.
The campaign was designed to underscore the convenience of audio books, using tongue-in-cheek humour. However, Sanjay Singhal, Simply Audiobooks’ Chief Marketing Officer states, “The campaign was intended to be humorous. It was never intended to be an international political statement, and when a few people began interpreting it that way, we decided to stop the campaign.”
Singhal further explains, “We did restrict the campaign to Canada; however, the media and bloggers have managed to extend the reach of the ads into the US, and we quickly realized we had to pull the billboards to minimize the potential for offending our friendly neighbours to the south.”
While the majority of the response to the billboards (which appeared solely in Toronto) was positive, a small number of consumers took offense to the tongue-and-cheek ad concept – especially since Lakehead University launched a similar campaign shortly after the Toronto audio book retailer.
“The Lakehead posters took us completely by surprise, which was when we made this decision,” says Simply Audiobooks CEO, Sean Neville. “We didn’t want to create the impression that Canadian businesses have a political agenda, or are ganging up on the Bush administration.”
The company has already stopped the ad campaign, but it may take a week or more for all the billboards to be physically removed from their locations throughout the city. The company has also said it will not be printing any additional poster sized versions of the ads, which were popular at its Toronto retail location at 350 Bay Street.
About Simply Audiobooks
Simply Audiobooks is North America's top audio book source, offering the most comprehensive range of online services with unlimited rentals, sales and direct downloads. Launched in 2003, the company was the first to provide an unlimited rental model for audio books on CD, with free direct-to-door delivery and no due dates or late fees. Simply Audiobooks now offers audio books on tape or CD for purchase, as well as direct downloads in open-standard encrypted WMA files. The company has offices in Toronto, Buffalo and Las Vegas. |
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