NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Looking to attract new buyers, General Motors is taking a novel advertising approach. The company is admitting some of its past cars were not well built and the company was not well run.

CNNfn's Chris Huntington reports on General Motors' efforts to improve its image in a new ad campaign by admitting mistakes. Play video (Real or Windows Media)

The campaign, which kicks off next week with a print advertisement in newspapers, is called "The Road to Redemption." The first ad will make passing reference to quality problems with GM cars in the past by describing GM's attempts to improve the quality.

"Thirty years ago, GM quality was the best in the world. Twenty years ago, it wasn't," the ad says. It goes on to say, "The hard part meant breaking out of our own bureaucratic gridlock. Learning some humbling lessons from our competitors."

"We need to communicate to consumers in a new way, in a voice that's very different from what they expect," Gary Cowger, president of GM North America, said in a statement issued Wednesday. "The text of the first ad details the company's long journey on the longest road in the world -- 'The Road to Redemption.'"

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Future ads will deal with GM technology, the environment and design.

GM (GM: Research, Estimates) has tried other novel approaches to attracting buyers lately, including its implementation of the 24-hour test drive. Potential customers are allowed to take a car or truck home for the night to try it out.