Frigidaire Fridges Lead Print Ad Pack In Feb., 11 Of Past 12 Months

Niagra Falls, N.Y.— Frigidaire remained the country's most advertised refrigerator brand in February, a distinction it has held for 11 of the past 12 months.

That's the word from Beyen Corp. of America, here, which tracks majap and CE ads in more than 100 newspapers across the United States.

Nearly 25 percent of all refrigerator ads culled by Beyen featured Frigidaire-branded products, followed by Kenmore with over 21 percent of ads and Whirlpool with over 11 percent.

Frigidaire's most heavily promoted refrigerator was model FRS26RLECS, a 26-cubic-foot stainless steel side-by-side, with prices ranging from $899 to $999.99. Kenmore's top entry — and the most frequently promoted of all refrigerators — model 73852, an 18.1-cubic-foot topmount, was consistently priced at $499.88 last month, while Whirlpool's ED5NHGXM side-by-side also maintained a flat $899.99 offer.

On the retail front, Sears ran the most newspaper ads in February (nearly 31 percent of all tallied), followed by Best Buy with nearly 27 percent, and Lowe's, which leaped from 15th place in January with 5.4 percent of all ads. For the trailing 12 months, however, Best Buy was the biggest ad spender by far, with a 40 percent share of newspaper promotions.