ATA slams Coke Super Bowl ad

According to the American Trucking Assns. (ATA), a planned Coca-Cola product television ad campaign kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday depicts an anti-trucking message.

The ad features a tractor-trailer with the “Full Throttle” energy drink logo on it forcing an automobile marked with the competitive “Red Bull” brand off the road.

ATA president & CEO Bill Graves said the TV spot "will reinforce and help perpetuate a negative stereotype that the trucking industry and our professional drivers have fought long and hard to overcome."

Graves noted a U.S. Dept. of Transportation announcement that the 2004 fatal crash rate for large trucks had dropped to its lowest point since the federal government began keeping large truck safety records in 1975, "is a tribute to the ongoing safety efforts being made by our motor carriers and their drivers."

ATA also stated that given that every single product produced by Coca-Cola is delivered by trucks, Graves has requested that "Coca-Cola showcases its great product in a manner that does not do so at the expense of our industry image.”

To view the ad, go to announce.coca-cola.com/full_throttle/index.html