Toyota SUV ads banned for promoting reckless driving

author: FutureCar Staff    

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA/PA) has banned an advertisement for the Toyota Hilux SUV that showcased the vehicles being driven over natural terrain. The ad was criticized for encouraging off-road driving without considering the environmental impact.

The banned video, which was shared on Facebook, depicted several Toyota Hilux SUVs driving in unison across an open plain with mountains on either side. The vehicles were also shown crossing a river bed before joining a tarmacked road. A voiceover in the ad described the scene as "one of nature's true spectacles" and referred to the Toyota Hilux as "Born to Roam." The ad concluded with a shot of the car parked in a rocky, natural environment.

In addition to the video, a poster seen at a bus stop featured the phrase "Born to Roam" and showed two SUVs driving on a rocky incline in a savannah-style landscape. In the background, around 50 identical vehicles were being driven.

The campaign group Adfree Cities raised concerns about the ads to the ASA, arguing that they were irresponsible for promoting behavior that could harm the environment. Toyota defended the video, stating that it was filmed in Slovenia on private land with permission. The company also claimed that the use of multiple vehicles in the ad was clearly fantastical and would not encourage consumers to drive in large numbers in the wild.

Toyota further asserted that the video did not encourage UK consumers to drive irresponsibly in the countryside and cause environmental harm. Regarding the poster, Toyota explained that it was entirely created using computer-generated imagery (CGI) and therefore did not cause any damage to the natural environment.

The ASA, however, ruled that the video contained scenes of cars driving realistically at high speeds across untarmacked, off-road landscapes, including across a river. The authority determined that the driving scenes and messaging in both the video and the poster conveyed a disregard for the environmental impact of such driving and encouraged driving regardless of its purpose.

The ASA concluded that the ads were not prepared with a sense of responsibility to society and ordered Toyota not to use them again. The authority also instructed Toyota to ensure that its future marketing communications do not encourage irresponsible behavior towards the environment.

Veronica Wignall, co-director at Adfree Cities, welcomed the ruling but argued that regulating SUV advertisements is not enough. Wignall believes that the promotion of SUVs should be terminated altogether due to their negative impact on nature, air pollution, urban congestion, and the loss of life they can cause.

A spokesperson for Toyota emphasized that the company does not condone behavior harmful to the environment. Toyota highlighted its efforts to reduce carbon emissions across its vehicle offering and its sharing of electrification technology with others. The spokesperson also mentioned that Toyota caters to customers who require reliable mobility options in off-road and remote settings, and that the footage in the banned ad was obtained in a non-UK location on private land with all necessary permissions in a non-ecologically sensitive environment. Additionally, the static image used in the poster was CGI and had no environmental impact on the depicted land.

FutureCar Staff