Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter
We noted late last night here on the website that an advertising executive for Dodge still views the WWE product as “trashy” and not “appropriate” for its target age demographic.
The advertising executive from Dodge claims that the company previously bought time for shows that recently underperformed in the ratings. As a result, Dodge was owed “make good spots” on the station. The suggestion was then made to representatives to run the Dodge ads during WW RAW since the ads were basically free because RAW does strong ratings in the male 18-49 demo, which is a good car-buying demographic. The advertising executive then said that WWE would not be a product Dodge ever purchases time on.
When the Dodge rep was told that WWE has changed its product to become a more family-friendly and advertiser-friendly product, the executive said in reply, “I do understand that, but WWE doesn’t make sense for Dodge Dart. WWE is very trashy and not appropriate for our target.”
For what it’s worth, Dodge isn’t the only company who feels this way as there are many other advertisers that will not advertise their products on WWE television as they still consider it “trashy”. One advertising executive went as far as to stereotype pro wrestling fans as “low income people and won’t purchase our product.”
