Time Warner Cable, New York, ceased a direct mail campaign on Wednesday after the governor of New Jersey complained it was offensive to the citizens of her state. The mailing piece consisted of a brochure promoting digital TV, which contained a page that contained the language: “A picture-in-picture guide that’s so simple even somebody from New Jersey can use it.”
Gov. Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey found out about the mailing when she received a letter–from a New Yorker–complaining about it. “The governor thought it was totally inappropriate,” said her spokeswoman Jayne O’Connor. “There are many ways Time Warner can promote their product without dashing NJ.”
When Whitman wrote Time Warner, the company stopped the mailing that day. “The advertisement referred to by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman was written solely in the spirit of the well-known lighthearted New York/New Jersey rivalry,” wrote Barry Rosenblum, president of Time Warner Cable in a statement released to the press. “We did not mean to offend anyone and as a result of your concerns, it will be discontinued.”
The campaign had been going on since February. Time Warner couldn’t determine by press time the number of pieces dropped since then.
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