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Audi Tricks Toronto
Audi lied to Toronto's Film and Television Office in order to secure permits to film a fictitious commercial. What the automaker was really up to was placing giant advertising sculptures throughout the city. Citizens began complaining, and the shenanigans were brought to light, even as Torontonians (Canada's New Yorkers) began defacing the Teutonic monoliths.
Audi apparently thought it could pull one over on the residents of Toronto, but it got caught. The automaker from Ingolstadt applied for a permit from the Film and Television Office of Toronto to shoot a commercial that would allow it to place double "T" statues that measure six feet high and fifteen feet long all over the city for a period of three days. A press release issued by Audi, however, confirms that no commercial would be shot, but rather that the statues are meant to act as billboards advertising the new Audi TT. The placement of the statues as advertisements, though, violates the city's signage laws.About 50 of the statues were placed around Toronto, some appearing in park settings where residents go to enjoy natural beauty and a peaceful environment in the city. Clearly, the statues are regarded as a major eyesore, and people are ticked off that Audi and its advertising agency, Maverick PR, bent the rules to place them in the path of Toronto's residents.
The press release, linked in the article above, is a must-read: Audi missed the mark rather widely in predicting public reaction to their stunt.




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at 08:49 on November 18th, 2008
I think the city needed to remove the monuments at all