Slightly off topic . . .

As part of a marketing campaign by Toyota Racing, Toyota is sponsoring a contest where on a web site you can design your own paint job for a Toyota race car, and the winning design will be placed on a Toyota sponsored race car.


Pints for Prostates founder and North Carolina resident, Rick Lyke, entered a Pint for Prostates car design.  The design was removed from the entries by Toyota citing "inappropriate or offensive content". (see the entered design HERE)


There is still time for the Pints for Prostates ride to be part of the Toyota Sponsafy promotion and with your help we can make it happen. Please send a quick email to Kym Strong (kym_strong@toyota.com) of Toyota Motorsports and Greg Thome (greg_thome@toyota.com) of Toyota Corporate Communications. Use the subject line "Race the Pints for Prostates Car."


Below is the email I sent this morning:

Mr. Kym Strong & Mr. Greg Thome -

Recently I was informed that Toyota Racing has rejected the design of a "Pints for Prostates" car design through Toyota's "Sponsafy a Car" promotion because the design "contains offensive or inappropriate content". This is just yet another public relations mistake among many Toyota has made in recent months.

Pints for Prostates is an organization dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of early testing for, and detection of, prostate cancer in men by using the universal language of beer in order to reach out to men in a casual manner.  According to 2009 statistics, 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime - odds that rival that of breast cancer in women.  In 2009, nearly 190,000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed, and that approximately 27,000 men died because of the disease. Thanks to early detection and treatment, more than 2 million men in the United States alone that have been diagnosed with prostate cancer are still alive today. The goal of Pints for Prostates is to keep more men alive by getting them to recognize the importance of early detection.

At the age of 47, married with 3 sons, I was one of those men diagnosed with stage 3 prostate cancer. 

The only thing "offensive or inappropriate" is the short sightedness of your decision to not even consider the Pints for Prostates car design in your contest.  The selection of the PFP designed car would raise awareness of prostate cancer across the country and through out the auto racing community - a sport who's majority of team owners, competitors, crews, event participants, fans and spectators are men!

As a 4-time Toyota owner, a racing fan, and a prostate cancer patient - I respectfully request you to reconsider your decision. And, at the very least, let the cars' design be placed on the web site for public consideration - as well as your own.