Facing the pressure of lean economic times, General Motors Corp. announced on Tuesday it will reduce and consolidate marketing budgets.

GM Chairman-CEO Rick Wagoner announced the reductions in a conference call, but gave little information about how large the marketing cutbacks would be. The decreased marketing budgets are part of a larger plan that will see GM build 300,000 fewer trucks by 2009, while at the same time reducing salaried jobs and salary increases in the U.S. and Canada.

Earlier this year, GM made a gamble and announced it would devote half of its total ad budget -- nearly $1.5 billion -- to digital. But overall, the company, which is the fourth largest advertiser in the U.S., has cut its ad spending every year since 2005. According to an Advertising Age report, the company spent $3 billion on advertising in the U.S. in 2007, which was down from an estimated $3.29 billion spent in 2006.

Doug Scott, a consultant from GfK Automotive, predicted GM's budget reductions would likely result in fewer marketing managers. "At the end of the day, you get rid of fewer salespeople than marketing people because they are calling on dealers," Scott said.