You know, sadly, it's not the first time we've had to confront that question. Stupid college experimenting. Mad Dog 20/20'll make you do some silly things, we'll tell you what!
Anyway, it seems Robert Farago's gotten himself into a peck of trouble. Well, not trouble so much as sitch-ee-ation. He writes about it in BMW Bans TTAC: The Vagina Dialogues. The upshot here is that in a TTAC review, Mr. Farago referred to a Subaru Tribeca's front-end styling as that of a vagina. And now BMW is mad about it and isn't allowing TTAC anymore press vehicles. BMW does not own Subaru.
We wonder if this will turn into some sort of soap opera. TTAC mocks Subaru. BMW sticks up for Subaru, calls TTAC a doodoo head. Subaru's self esteem rises. TTAC mocks them so more. And, somehow, Alison realizes we exist!
We don't know which side of the issue we fall on, really. We kinda like the Tribeca and its looks are just fine with us. It should get better gas mileage, however. TTAC should be able to call any vehicle anything it likes, but comparing the Sub's front to a vagina seems a bit much. The Tribeca could be called far worse, however. Like unreliable. Or a waste of money. We're not saying it is, but we're pretty sure a label of unreliable is far worse than being called any part of the anatomy.
Actually, this controversy brings up a bigger issue to us. In an age where everyone can be the press (for lack of a better word), there's going to be need for access. Access to the companies, upper management, and the company's products. Access to all three can lead to questionable reviews in order to maintain that access. And we don't just mean cars. The blog world (we hesitate to use the word blog-o-sphere because it makes us think of Pauly Shore is grass-roots journalism and we're scared as hell about it all ending up like what MSM has become.
In fact, Mr. Farago had mentioned recently that he had to rent cars in order to review them. With his own money! That's the kind of review that owes nothing to nobody. And there's something to be said for that.
I'm of two minds on this issue, too. The press should have access and state what it sees and believes in. But corporations, which can lose millions, even billions, depending on what the press writes, is understandably paranoid.
Posted by: Joel A | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 12:00 PM