Midas commercial - no chest clip!

[JaRylan]

Midas commercial

There are two versions of the commercial that can be viewed - 15 seconds and 30 seconds. The 15 second one has a side view of the baby in the seat.

No chest clip and loose straps. How close to the top of the seat shell do you think the baby is?

[JaRylan]

Not sure if I'll get a response or not.

I saw the current Midas commercial for the first time last night. I am gravely concerned about the way the infant was restrained in the infant seat. The chest clip was missing and the harness straps were very loose. I am shocked that a commercial about car safety would show such gross errors in a child restraint. I look forward to your reply.

http://www.midas.com/promotions/index.aspx

Sincerely,

[An Aurora]

Wow. First I thought it might be the one carseat that didn't have a chestclip (wasn't there an old Fisher Price with no chest clip?) but then at the end of the commercial I saw it was a jungle print Graco. Wow, crazy that they would have such misuse in a safety commercial!

[mommycat]

At least the seat was RF - at first I thought the baby would be facing her... But yes, where do they get these seats if they don't even have a chest clip on? Or would they go to the trouble to remove it to make the baby look more comfortable or something?

[tjham]

I emailed them about the loose straps and no chest clip. I got this response:


Dear *****,

Thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate you taking the time to share your comments regarding our current TV advertising.

As you, we take the issue of safety very seriously. At Midas, our commitment is to always help keep our customers safely and reliably on the road.

Please be assured that the baby is in a rear-facing position. We took great care in our editing to ensure that the baby is depicted in a rear-facing position.

We have posted the ad on our web site, Midas.com, and would invite you to view the spot there.

Again, thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate your feedback, and hope that we can have an opportunity to serve your auto service needs in the future.

Sincerely,

Midas International Corporation




My response to them:




Your reply to me is very puzzling. I never even mentioned if the child was RF or FF!
I was well aware that it was RF. My issue is *No chest clip* and *loose straps*.

T*****


----- Original Message -----
From: customersupport@midas.com

Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 7:19 AM
Subject: Midas Support Case


May 29, 2007

[mommycat]

I wonder if they even read your email, or if they just saw "carseat" and sent you a form letter on what they assumed you would ask about...

[joolsplus3]

The commercial's producers went to the trouble to remove the chest clip...and it's a rear-adjusting seat, I wonder if they reinstalled the straps properly after they took the clip off? Or if they just photoshopped it out? Either way, they are stupid, lol.

[CandCfam]

Originally Posted by tjham

I emailed them about the loose straps and no chest clip. I got this response:


Dear *****,

Thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate you taking the time to share your comments regarding our current TV advertising.

As you, we take the issue of safety very seriously. At Midas, our commitment is to always help keep our customers safely and reliably on the road.

Please be assured that the baby is in a rear-facing position. We took great care in our editing to ensure that the baby is depicted in a rear-facing position.

We have posted the ad on our web site, Midas.com, and would invite you to view the spot there.

Again, thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate your feedback, and hope that we can have an opportunity to serve your auto service needs in the future.

Sincerely,

Midas International Corporation




My response to them:




Your reply to me is very puzzling. I never even mentioned if the child was RF or FF!
I was well aware that it was RF. My issue is *No chest clip* and *loose straps*.

T*****


----- Original Message -----
From: customersupport@midas.com

Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 7:19 AM
Subject: Midas Support Case


May 29, 2007

It's a canned response. I JUST emailed them as well, and actually credited them in the email as having the baby RF, but that the harness was loose and the chest clip was missing, but I got the SAME exact response you did.

And when I say I JUST emailed them, I mean it took nothing of 1 minute to get that canned response back from them.

[JaRylan]

This just arrived in my email, it is slightly different than what the others received. I guess we should be reassured that they know what they are doing

Please keep in mind that this is an advertisement, and consequently, it is a staged event in a highly controlled environment. It does not claim to represent an actual situation.

I guess accidents never happen in "highly controlled environments". Good grief....now I have to think what my reply back will be.

June 4, 2007


Case #:37705

Dear Ms. ___________,

Thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate you taking the time to share your comments regarding our current TV advertising.

As you know, we take the issue of safety very seriously. At Midas, our commitment is to always help keep our customers safely and reliably on the road.

Please keep in mind that this is an advertisement, and consequently, it is a staged event in a highly controlled environment. It does not claim to represent an actual situation.

In response to recent commentary, Midas has elected to re-edit the commercial with different footage showing the car seat straps secured in position with the safety clip.

We anticipate this new version to begin airing on TV very shortly. We will also have it posted on our web site, Midas.com, and would invite you to view the spot there.

Again, thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate your feedback, and hope that we can have an opportunity to serve your auto service needs in the future.

Sincerely,

[joolsplus3]

Someone else on CPSPList got that response, too... I guess enough people complained they finally got the message, lol.

"Thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate you taking the time to
share your comments regarding our current TV advertising.

As you know, we take the issue of safety very seriously. At Midas,
our commitment is to always help keep our customers safely and
reliably on the road.

Please keep in mind that this is an advertisement, and consequently,
it is a staged event in a highly controlled environment. It does not
claim to represent an actual situation.

In response to recent commentary, Midas has elected to re-edit the
commercial with different footage showing the car seat straps
secured in position with the safety clip.

We anticipate this new version to begin airing on TV very shortly.
We will also have it posted on our web site, Midas.com, and would
invite you to view the spot there.

Again, thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate your feedback,
and hope that we can have an opportunity to serve your auto service
needs in the future."

[CandCfam]

I got a response to my response to their initial response.

Ms ******:

Thank you for contacting Midas--we appreciate your taking the time to share your comments about our current television advertising.

As you, we at Midas take the issue of safety very seriously. Our company's commitment is to always help keep our customers safely and reliably on the road.

Because of concerned individuals such as yourself, we became aware that there were some issues with the positioning of the car seat and the harness clip. The commercial is not on air this week as our advertising agency worked diligently to re-shoot and re-edit the spot to be certain that the car seat and the baby are in safe positions. Safety representatives of the car seat manufacturer and of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have reviewed and approved the new commercial, which will begin airing again during the week of June 11.

Again, thank you for contacting Midas. We appreciate your feedback and hope that we can have the opportunity to serve your auto service needs sometime in the future.

Bob Troyer
Midas, Inc.
Director of Corporate Affairs

[tjham]

Wow! Can't wait to see it!

OT - Does anyone else think the woman looks just a little bit like Cameron Diaz?

[JaRylan]

So much for not running the ad until the new one is released. I saw the short version of the add tonight...3 very long shots of baby in carseat, no chest clip and harness still loose...so much for the magic of television.

[Judi]

Where is it on the web site?

[southpawboston]

i think midas deserves some credit. they took the comments seriously, they responded with appropriate action, and this is what impressed me the most:

Safety representatives of the car seat manufacturer and of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have reviewed and approved the new commercial, which will begin airing again during the week of June 11.

i think that's about the best outcome that anyone can expect.

Originally Posted by JaRylan

So much for not running the ad until the new one is released. I saw the short version of the add tonight...3 very long shots of baby in carseat, no chest clip and harness still loose...so much for the magic of television.

even if the current version of the commercial continues to be broadcast, this may not be midas' fault... there is a lot of beaurocracy (sp?) and a long chain of command in these things, and any number of people could be responsible for the unedited version still being broadcast.

i still say kudos to midas for the way they handled this.

[JaRylan]

Originally Posted by southpawboston

i think midas deserves some credit. they took the comments seriously, they responded with appropriate action, and this is what impressed me the most:



i think that's about the best outcome that anyone can expect.



even if the current version of the commercial continues to be broadcast, this may not be midas' fault... there is a lot of beaurocracy (sp?) and a long chain of command in these things, and any number of people could be responsible for the unedited version still being broadcast.

i still say kudos to midas for the way they handled this.

I can appreciate that they might not have control over the older version continuing to air until the new one is released next week. My issue is you shouldn't say it if you can't do it:

The commercial is not on air this week as our advertising agency worked diligently to re-shoot and re-edit the spot to be certain that the car seat and the baby are in safe positions.

We'll see what Monday brings.

[mominabigtruck]

I just wanted to say that I saw the new ad last night and they have the same carseat but there is a chest clip and its positioned correctly. I hadn't kept up with the fact that midas had said they would change the ad so when I saw it I was excited. At first I was really confused as to why they would photo shop the clip out but now I realize they reshot the whole thing

[beebear23]

I saw the new one last night.. The straps are still a little loose though. Oh well, still looks a little better..

[tjham]

http://www.midas.com/TV/BabySpot_30Seconds.aspx

[JaRylan]

Yay! Less than 20 days from when the commercial was first mentioned on here until someone saw the new version. That is impressive! I wonder how many complaints they received?

[lovinwaves]

What a cute commercial LOL!!! Thank goodness the child is harnessed correctly now!