Press Release: Kia Motors Wraps Successful National Campaign to Rethink How Boomers are Defined

There are so many contenders for dumbest PR campaign of the year, but Kia Motors' has to be in the top three. As part of the Forever Young with Kia Amanti Tour, the automaker sent a baby boomer couple across the U.S. to collect signatures on a petition that says baby boomers don't want to be thought of as old. (Really.)

The old couple (um, the baby boomer couple) ended their journey by presenting more than 12,000 petition signatures to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary in Boston, asking that baby boomers not be defined by the years they were born.

This might make Kia's ad agencies' media buying efforts a little complicated, were they to not simply ignore their client's wishes.

"Our recent survey shows us that boomers don't want to be defined by their age, rather by a state of mind," a Kia Motors America press release claims President and CEO Peter M. Butterfield said. "We designed our new Kia Amanti for this group who want a car that offers style, safety and comfort and appreciates getting a lot of value for their money. Baby boomers are active at an age where they want to reward themselves and will always be young at heart."

Yes, sure he said that. It's such a natural sounding quote.