• Fresno Bee, Monday, November 12, 2007 10:45 AM

Toyota's new ad campaign for the fuel-efficient Prius has ticked off the residents of Fresno, Calif.,the unofficial capital of the Golden's State's Central Valley. One spot implies someone would only stop in the city if low on gas, is drawing fire from residents, city officials and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. So Toyota has recalled the ad, which it now says was poorly conceived.

Feinstein's letter to Shige Hayakawa, president of Toyota North America, expresses her '"profound disappointment with the current Toyota Prius advertising campaign which gratuitously insults the city of Fresno." So, Irving Miller, group vice president for Toyota corporate communications, has apologized. He says the spot has since been edited to "remove anyr eference to Fresno and we have implemented a series of controls that will allow us to monitor future local advertising to prevent this type of error from occurring.

Read the whole story at Fresno Bee »