Editorial "Tasteless and Appalling"
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Opinion
I would like to comment on a January 30th editorial titled "Garzo Tire Ad is Tasteless and Appalling." This particular editorial was not only inaccurate and error-laden, but it was also completely disrespectful and condescending to Garzo Tire and the Garzolini family.
The author of the editorial claimed to be "appalled" by the supposed "racist" agenda of Garzo Tire to promote American-made tires, yet the author's interpretation of the advertisement, and subsequent editorial about the interpretation of the advertisement, was wrong from beginning to end. There are so many errors that I am "appalled" myself that the Statesman allowed such an error-filled editorial to be printed.
First, the advertisement was not made by Garzolini Tire, but rather Titan Tire, an American company specializing in "off-highway" tires and accessories, with "primary markets" including "agriculture" and "earthmoving/construction," among others (information readily available on the main page of the Titan website, if only one had bothered to look). This is important because the entire point of the advertisement was to promote how Titan is the only American "off-highway" tire producer in the world, "off-highway" meaning not used on regular vehicles. This important aspect of the commercial, indeed the important aspect of the commercial, was missed. The target audience of the advertisement included farmers and heavy machine operators, not regular, every day drivers, yet the author proceeded to blast the Garzolini family anyway, attacking their intelligence and credibility and even going so far as to imply that Garzo Tire would exploit the Holocaust to promote American tires if need be. Seriously?
A second error, and a gross one at that, was made with this comment, "And back when American tires were exploding on SUVs? Had I been driving at the time, I'm pretty sure I would have chosen foreign tires. I can guarantee that now, if the choice was between foreign non-exploding tires and American exploding tires, I'd go with foreign tires in a heartbeat." Contrary to what the editorial said, it was not American tires that were exploding on SUVs, but foreign tires that were exploding on American SUVs. The tires were the Japanese-made Firestone Destination AT tires, to be exact, and they were only on Ford Explorers. Once again, with a little research, this fact would have been known.
The last of the many errors in the editorial that I will bring to attention (since this response is becoming a bit too wordy and I am well on my way to a master's thesis about inaccurate journalism) is the claim that Garzo Tire is against foreign-made tires. This is completely false. Garzo Tire proudly sells both foreign and domestic tires, including Firestone (Japan), Michelin (France) and Goodyear (USA), among others. It would be pretty silly for Garzo Tire to produce an advertisement attacking foreign tires when they themselves sell foreign tires (even though I already mentioned Titan made the commercial, not Garzo Tire).
I think that the Indiana Statesman should practice better discretion when printing articles, especially editorials. Just because it is a person's opinion does not mean the writer, nor the paper, have carte blanche to print whatever they want. Every aspect of a paper, even a college paper, should be based in fact, which also means that a writer's opinion must be based in fact. I think the Garzolini family is due an apology. They are a good local family operating a fine local business. They help both their friends and customers immensely and give back to the community through their good business practices and support of Terre Haute. I know members of the Garzolini family personally and they were dismayed and angered that a piece such as this was allowed to be printed, given its complete inaccuracy and condescending tone.
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