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Subscribe to RSSBMW apologized after a PR strategy to pay for the naming rights to a weather system backfired -- that system turned into the deep freeze that's claimed dozens of lives across Europe.
The goal was to promote BMW's Mini Cooper brand by paying Germany's meteorological office 299 euros ($392) to name a system "Cooper" -- a practice in place since 2002 to help fund weather monitoring work in Germany. Unfortunately for BMW, the system it was assigned to turned out to be a killer.
"Of course we are sorry. It was not intentional, you cannot tell in advance what a weather system will do," a company spokeswoman told The Independent of London.
BMW also has had plans to later this year name a low-pressure system "Minnie" -- no word whether that's still in the works, though.
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I feel sorry for this person, BMW. Corporations are people, my friend.
Not in Europe. They're not as dumb as we are.
$392 to name a weather system?
They should be charging at least $10,000.
Spoken like a true blue-blooded right-wing American capitalist, pjam09. I'm sure you could squeeze another couple grand out of them with a few administrative fees.
Nothing like turning an innocent comment into an opportunity to assume someone's political preferences.
Keep the political comments to the political stories, will you? There will be more than enough chances for you to show your ass...I promise.
Braincandy, you are behind the progressive curve. Your President could tell you that Jesus would want
to charge the ten thousand. Obama said that is the teaching of Christ today,
so who are we to argue with the Theologian in Chief?
I'd find this highly amusing if people hadn't died from the weather system. Of course that's what happens when you try to pretend ownership over something that really can't be owned.
Mitt Twitt
YOU get the the "SPEWY of the Day" Award.!
Quick thinking & entendre ability all in the #1st post
the Trifecta !
now THAT deserves recognition
I Sir, salute you !
Well I guess they could always say "Our Cooper only kills the competition"
BrainCandy obviously causes brain rot (cavities)...
More like BrainFart if you ask me
Now you all go stick your chests out and feel proud for coming up with what you believe to be witty comebacks. Pat yourselves on the back, and do some high-5's all around. Fact is, I don't follow anyone blindly, unlike so many republicans who would vote for a republican they hate before a democrat who not only has a better record and ethics, but also a better plan that includes benefits for ALL Americans, not just an insanely small minority of Americans.
franksam, at least 3 republicans have claimed that god personally told them to do something. which is more laughable?
Braincandy ate his brain and left the candy. Thats why he doesn't make sense.
pretty sure all ive ever gotten from any pres is more taxes and more debt. use your er..... brain? candy. you can keep that crap and leave me out!!!
If they would have known people were going to die... I think they would have called the system: The Ford Pinto
Glas glad that several of you really smart & perceptive people figured out that this thread was really about politics. As a middle-aged dullard, I thought it was about a failed automotive promotion ...
Just apologize and save the 1st grade weather lesson for the idiots in the marketing who apparently think weather is predictable. For a company that takes pride in it engineering sophistication, they should think about sending someone to "What every person in the world knows" college for a degree is "Duh !!".
when you need gimmicks to sell your car, you are no longer selling a car. you are selling suckerdom. in other words, the car sucks.
Most advertising is a waste.
That's how a product is introduced and sold. When the goverment does it, they call it Propaganda - when private business does it - it's advertising. And when people buy into it - that's idiocy. Like when people vote for someone because they give rousing substance & detail free speeches. Sorry, I couldn't resist adding the last sentence, it certainly rings true. It's such a "slow" news day. Didn't Al Gore invent the Weather?
BMW controls the weather and killed millions across Europe!? Where's the outrage!?
Maybe next time they could buy naming rights to the latest mysterious disease.
That's it, I'm taking my 2012 750li out of the garage and burning it.
With you in it, I hope. ; )
No but your Mom is still in the back seat. Save her or not? HMMMMMMMMMMM
Mini Coopers are cute cars that share a number of parts with BMW's luxury motorcycle the K1300LT. That also means the maintenance on that machine will cost quite a bit more than a "normal" automobile. BMW does not make any vehicle that I can afford, but that's OK, because they also don't make any vehicles I would buy, especially their motorcycles. They are good machines, but why spend twice as much for a logo?
If you think the only difference in their vehicles from all the others available is simply the logo, you have never driven one. They are, in fact, magnificent machines.
I have owned several BMW and Mercedes I actually prefer my American cars. Lower total cost of ownership they are great and very dependable. But I really have no idea as to why they feel it necessary to apologize for mother nature. Do we Americans blame everyone named Katrina for the hurricane?
I only blame Katrina and the Waves for walking on all of that sunshine, which was obviously what triggered it.
Well at least two of us remember that song.(shudder)
Isn't that what the meteorologists are actually supposed to do. Study the weather/storm systems and predict what they think the weather is going to do. Not saying they are exactly right, but most of the time they are somewhat close, atleast in the US. Maybe the hurricane center needs to remove the European storm forecast models from their system, if their meteorologists cant even come close to predicting what a storm system might do.
He said you cannot "tell" not that you cannot "predict." Subtle but very important differences in meaning. No one can tell what will happen ahead of time -- telling implies accurate conveyance of something that has already happened -- which is inherently impossible. Predicting is guessing what might happen based on an analysis of numerous factors. A prediction may or may not turn out to be accurate. Whether or not it was accurate can be told after the event in question has occurred. Do you see the difference?
oljnbol
Weather forecasts are really good out to 48 hours, pretty good to 72 hours, good to 96 hours and okay to 120 hours. We may gather tons of data scientifically, but putting it all together into a forecast remains something of an art!
You have obviously never lived in Southern Arizona. The weatherman can accurately predict the weather weeks in advance, because everyday is exactly the same ...... Hot, Dry and Miserable .... with a slight chance of happiness.
The local weatherman loves it there, as he can simply stay in bed and phone in his accurate prediction.
Pen, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I'd move to Arizona in one hot second if it wasn't... well, Arizona. 105 degrees with low humidity sounds like paradise to me. Here in New England, we can have -20 in the winter with five feet of snow (like last year at this time), and 100+ degrees with 90% humidity in the summer. There were days last summer when it was 90+ degrees one day, followed by a tornado, and then it was like 60 degrees the next day. Do you have any idea how hard it is to plan your wardrobe with that kind of variation?! First-world problems, people. These things matter.
Pen. your comment reminded me of when I lived in Bermuda. The local radio station recorded everything for a week. The only thing that wasn't recorded was the news. For an entire week we heard the same songs at the same time every day and it was the same with the weather, "highs in the upper 80s, lows in the middle 70s, with a chance of afternoon showers!"
If I buy a mini-cooper, will it rain in my backyard all summer?
How much did STARBURST pay to harness the flavor of rainbows?
$392.00 and a bag of Skittles!
Unfortunately for a company that really does... they have decided to take on this Mini brand. To me it is like their attempt to woo people who would buy a VW of some kind. They are obviously not serious about this whole thing or they would ditch the FWD! Mini is the most pathetic thing about BMW (the 318 may be worse)... and it's not really BMW. If you want a BMW stick to the big-boy cars BMW builds... BMWs... the kids et al can buy a mini/VW or whatever else is cute.
Anyone with some design/mechanical background is well aware of the work put into BMW vehicles... that is why they keep selling. They are not selling a logo...
"If when buying a BMW, you are buying it for the logo or brand, you do not deserve such a machine no matter how much money you have"
Nick, I agree with your assessment of the Mini. I drive a 2002 Z3 (2.5i), and several months ago test-drove a Mini. I would never buy that car for the price they are asking! Less engine, less precise steering, much less smooth suspension - not to mention other cost-saving measures (like fabric upholstery) that made the car feel "cheap" to me (compared to other BMWs). I guess you are right about kids who want cute cars, but it just seems the antithesis of BMW's famous German Engineering...
Maybe because it's based on (in)famous British Engineering ....
i think as a tax payer we should pay for weather service in our taxes we all use that information the same as cops, firemen, trash men, teachers, hi-ways, and doctors yes we all get sick
Are you suggesting that we don't. Here in the US we have been paying for weather information since 1807, and then upping the ante in 1970 when Nixon suggested we go all out and fund the NOAA. And rightfully so, because we farm our lands, fish our waters and send planes and rockets into the atmosphere. We had better have the best understanding of what we think is happening in our air, if we want to survive.
If BMW or any one else wishes to kick in money to their European weather bureau to sell a few cars, it is no different than paying for advertising space on the side of a public transportation bus. Makes sense to me. I am sure that anyone that has enough money to buy a BMW is smart enough to know that BMW can not actually control the weather to hurt people.
At least they weren't as stupid as their cousins at Mercedes who used Che Guevara's image to sell cars, or so they thought. That was a nice bit of public relations disaster.
Whose bright idea was it to name winter storms after their own brand? Low pressure systems in the winter aren't exactly known for their positive connotations. I mean, why would you want your product associated with the cold and snow? I understand the concept "there's no such thing as negative exposure", but c'mon, this just seems to be a monumental brain fart. What next, Hurricane LG and Tropical Storm Hyundai?
If it wasn't a bad weather system, it would have been said on air hundreds of times with no negative impact. I think they just picked the wrong one to tag.
Too bad we can't do that here, I can see the "Marry me" and "Happy Birthday/Anniversary" weather systems along with the advertisers. Then inventively the names of ex-girlfriends for the particularly nasty storms...
Why exactly are they apologizing?
GOES to SHOW! If you read this story, people will buy anything!
Let me see if I understand this...BMW made a contribution to a meteorological society to help fund weather monitoring in Germany. This sounds like a good thing to me. The naming of the system is just a silly little perk to get people and companies to contribute. Weather monitoring programs are very beneficial (I live in a hurricane zone, love me some weather channel!). Expecting a company that supports the program to apologize because of bad weather is stupid. I fear this will discourage other companies from participating in the funding initiative.
If they named it after a hurricane then they could be proud of really causing disastrous conditions and naming their car after that? Oh or Forest fires that would be good. Major flooding events.
Hmmm.
Drive the New Greenville Tornado, its super fast and deadly, 14 killed to date.
Well that's it then. I'll never by a cooper!
Seriously! Are there any women out there named Katrina that are still married? Bitches!
Nice comparison to the idiocy of their analogy!!
Silly marketing idea, but good intentions for wanting to support weather monitoring work.
I think you need a new idea, as weather can easily turn on you when you least expect it. It was inevitable that this would happen, sooner or later.
I love Mini Coopers and puppy`s
Problem is they are both easy to run over.
The Cooper Mini can be an awsome vehicle. Ever watch SOME Gran Prix races ( with mixed classes). The Ferrari will jet down the straight, but a Cooper Mini may pass it in the twisties. On Road Rally racing, the Mini keeps up with the Audi and Subaru. For inexpensive transport, the Mini stays with the Fiat 500 & 600 in Europe.
who were they trying to sucker punch in the first place... since they want to say corporations and businesses are people, they fought and lost..
Everyone who lost a loved one in that storm is going to start crying when they see a mini cooper.
Stupid idea to start with and not exactly newsworthy.