In Response to Robert Bellavance

What could Toyota have done differently post recall? Would you buy a Toyota knowing the recent problems that they've had?

Well, unfortunately for Toyota, the question isn't what could they have done differently post recall, it's what are they going to have to do in order to make sure they are actually correcting the problem?

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there have been over 60 claims of unresolved sudden acceleration problems since mid-February. This is possibly more bad news for Toyota.

What does this mean for Toyota? It seems to me that the acceleration problem is not exactly what they thought it was. I think it may have something to do with the software in those vehicles. And software problems are not easy to fix. Thousands of lines of programming code, and the problem could be hard to find. I say that it could be a software problem because if it were only a physical piece that needed to be fixed (which is what they said the problem was and is what they replaced) then there couldn't be any unresolved problems because the problem wouldn't physically exist anymore.

I don't claim to have any answer as to why there are problems or what those problems even are. All I am is saying is that I think the recall story for Toyota isn't quite finished yet.

Catchy Tunes

What makes a commercial memorable? For me it's always the tune they have playing in the background. Of course, there are some commercials that are memorable for other reasons, but for me it's the music that sticks in my head.

Using catchy tunes with commercials is a great way for companies to market their products. The easier you can make your product memorable to your customers, the more likely they will be interested in buying it over another one, so every little advantage helps. I'm not saying that just because you include a snappy song on your TV spot that you will outsell your competitors, but knowing what gets people's attention helps greatly.

This is a double-edged sword however. There are always those commercials with the music that you can't get out of your head. For example, I could not get that McDonald's fillet-o-fish sandwich commercial out of my head for a good week because of that singing plastic fish. It was annoying, but I won't forget it for a long time.

Do you think catchy tunes are effective in commercials? What else makes something stick in your head?