Autowraps is a San Francisco-based company that pays drivers all over the country to decorate their cars with advertisements ["Driving for Dollars," Pat Kearney, May 4]. In the course of two hours in late July, Cerenzia's new Volkswagen Beetle went from a trendy futuristic bubble to an ad on wheels for Lowestpremium.com. When Autowraps started last year, it was considered a strange but not surprising development in the advertising world. Since then, Autowraps has signed up big-time customers like Philip Morris, Yahoo, and Kraft, and wooed people like Cerenzia, 27, by paying them $100-$400 a month to change their car's identity. "I thought it would be fun. Not only would it help pay my car payments, but I thought it would get me all this attention," Cerenzia says. However, since his car was transformed, he's had trouble with the Autowraps company, and even more interesting, his perception of advertising has changed drastically.
Since the wrap, Cerenzia has had problems contacting the company, getting his contract, and even getting paid. He tried to get in touch with Autowraps in July, but his calls and e-mail messages went unanswered. Cerenzia's frustration grew to the point where he was ready to tear the advertising off his car. "Then I got nervous and thought they would show up in the middle of the night like the Gestapo or something, and I'd never get paid," he says. Finally, in late August Cerenzia heard from Autowraps. Autowraps V.P. Marianne Farrell apologized for the delay, and said both the contract and check were in the mail. Three weeks passed and still no check or contract. When The Stranger contacted Autowraps about the screw-up, Farrell assured us that the Cerenzia fiasco was an oversight, and the check was in the mail. (At press time, Cerenzia has yet to be paid.) "Unfortunately Brad fell through the cracks, but one person is not representative of how we do business," says Farrell. Autowraps is a new company and mistakes happen. However, contrary to what Farrell says, Cerenzia isn't the only one who "fell through the cracks."
The Stranger discovered two other people who've had trouble with the company. "I still haven't been paid," says disgruntled Autowraps participant Heidi Turner. Turner, one of Autowraps' first local clients, had her Beetle wrapped the same time as Cerenzia, and has had similar problems adjusting to her car's makeover. Another local Autowraps participant, Evan Blackstone, also had trouble getting paid. "I finally got my check last week," he said.
Screwy bookkeeping isn't the only problem with the Autowraps experience. While Cerenzia's commercialized car has garnered him the attention he craved, it certainly hasn't been the good kind. "One time, I'm stopped at a light, I look over, and this guy's staring at my car and he says, shaking his head, 'That's a sad man.' Another time, I was parked up at the Safeway off of Broadway, and I kept noticing people stopping by my car and making little comments, and the looks on their faces--it was indescribable. I was like, this is just too much attention."
Autowraps President Daniel Schifrin says, "We don't force people into the program; it's their choice. And if they're crying about it later, what can I say?"
According to Cerenzia, however, the payment and correspondence problems with Autowraps pale in comparison to the unnerving experience of having his car wrapped in advertising. "I don't really smile and wave at people anymore when I'm driving. I don't look over at people when I'm stopped at stoplights.
"You know, I loved my Beetle and loved driving it. I went from really enjoying my ride and feeling safe and luxurious to... embarrassment."
It seems that the Autowraps experience has provided Cerenzia with an epiphany. "I felt more and more disdain for advertising," he says. "I just started thinking, what if everything gets wrapped--my clothes, the trees downtown? What if the buildings become huge billboards where the people inside can look out, but the people outside just see huge Snapple bottles?"
