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General Motors has dropped another advertising bomb, saying it will no longer advertise during the Super Bowl. CMO Joel Ewanick made the announcement, complaining that the price is too damn high (the going rate is about $3.8 million for a 30-second spot now). GM pulled its $10 million in advertising from Facebook just a couple of days ago.

The company has recently selected a new ad agency and says its re-evaluating its marketing. But “the Super Bowl has become arguably the most effective single platform for auto marketing,” according to Forbes. Not only is the game among the most watched programming for the year, but the clips get added legs through YouTube and other Internet views both before and after the broadcast.

Moreover, they didn’t even make as much of a splash with this announcement because they made it on Facebook IPO Friday.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Everyone is buzzing about the news that General Motors has pulled its $10 million in advertising from Facebook. The reason cited is the advertising is having “little impact on car purchases.” We’ve never noticed any GM advertising and, when taking into account that GM is the third largest advertiser in the U.S. ($1.8 billion) behind P&G and AT&T, it’s not that big of a spending cut for them. With $872 million in quarterly advertising revenue, its not too critical for Facebook either, though of course, the company would want to hang on to an advertiser.

In the course of its reporting, TechCrunch says sources question whether GM’s ads were “social enough” for the site. In that sense, it does raise the question of whether GM approached its Facebook advertising with the right strategy. It’s curious that GM would think that someone would see a Facebook ad and then run out and buy a car.

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Men and women go for very different kinds of rides. A TrueCar.com study of new car sales for 2011 showed a female affinity for the cute, fuel-efficient MINI, and other small import cars, while men continue to buy trucks, SUVs, and Ferraris in disproportionate numbers.

The matter-of-factly titled study, “Men Prefer Flashy or Brawny Vehicles; Women Prefer Import Brands and Smaller Vehicles,” really shows the gender appeal of car models.

For example, who is buying Porsche 911s? Almost all dudes.

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TMZ got a hold of the casting call document carmaker Acura sent out when it was filling the roles for its Jerry Seinfeld/Jay Leno Super Bowl commercial. How? An actor who didn’t get the role and is “pissed” sent it to them. Haha! Uh-oh.

According to the document (available on the TMZ site), Acura wanted the role of “African American Car Dealer” to be played by someone “nice looking, friendly” and “not too dark.” Double-take…. yes, that’s what it says. The ad is after the jump.

According to TMZ, someone involved with the casting says the skin color mandate was added because of something to do with “lighting and special effects.” But as Jalopnik pointed out, even if something about the car in the shot is “digitally enhanced,” it’s “still odd that they can make a car appear out of nowhere but can’t light a black guy with dark skin.”

Acura hasn’t responded to requests for comment but it can’t stay quiet on this forever, so we’ll see what the explanation is for this one.

*Update: Acura has issued an apology (of course) to anyone offended by the document. The company tells TMZ that it ultimately chose the “most talented actor” and it is taking steps to make sure that this sort of “language” isn’t used again.

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Baltimore-based Warschawski has been chosen to participate in Subaru’s “Work Play Love” tour, a springtime initiative that will take the automaker to companies they they’ve determined promote a good work-life balance. The firm doesn’t work with Subaru.

“Our ‘Work Play Love’ tour is a recognition of those efforts and an invitation to come out and play,” said Subaru’s promotions and sponsorships manager, Todd Lawrence, in a statement.

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Nissan North America has chosen Stratacomm as its AOR after a competitive search. Work will include media relations, thought leadership, and event management for the brand across the U.S. According to a press release statement from John Fitzpatrick, senior partner with Stratacomm, Nissan has 20 new vehicles launching in the next two years.

Stratacomm counts among its specialty areas automotive, transportation, and energy and environment.

[image: Nissan's 2013 Infiniti JX coming off of the assembly line. Via WSJ]

OK Go has become more famous for their videos than their actual music. Which is part of the explanation of why the band and its music label EMI parted ways in 2010.

Fast forward to 2012 and the band continues to put out some of the most innovative clips, music videos and otherwise. The latest is for their song “Needing/Getting,” which was teased (above) in a Chevy Sonic commercial, part of the company’s “Let’s Do This” campaign, that aired during the Super Bowl.

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Here it is folks. And we’ll ask the question everyone else is (including some of the characters in the ad): Is this one better than “The Force”?

More importantly, will it generate the kind of publicity and have the staying power of last year’s spot? Vote in the PRNewser Poll after the jump by EOD Friday.

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Auto makers have just wrapped up showcasing their new models at the North American International auto show in Detroit and many will soon be advertising during the Super Bowl on February 5. However, it is far from business as usual, since car buyers have been impacted by the economy and distracted by so many media options.

As a result, auto companies have had to adapt and be more unique when advertising and promoting their vehicles. Brands across the spectrum — from economy to luxury, domestic and foreign — have tried alternative timelines and communications tools to generate increased consumer interest. They’ve been hosting contests, posting teaser ads online, using new advertising venues and creating audio files. Below are selected examples.

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Mercedes has teamed up with fashion label Calvin Klein and supermodel Lara Stone for the video above — Stone gets out of a fancy car wearing a black designer outfit in a tornado and then gets swept up into the sky. The end.

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