The UK advertising watchdog has banned two Toyota ‘Born to Roam’ adverts, after a landmark ruling found that they disregard the environmental impact of these vehicles.
The ruling came after campaign group Adfree Cities raised that it believed the adverts were irresponsible for condoning environmentally irresponsible offroad driving.
It marks the first time the ASA has acted on the theme of nature in car advertising. The adverts in question display SUVs driving through rugged landscapes, with the regulator saying that the “ads presented and condoned the use of vehicles in a manner that disregarded their impact on nature and the environment”.
The banned Toyota ads include a poster and a video shown on social media – the poster seen at a bus stop stated “Born to Roam” and featured an image which showed two SUVs driving on a rocky incline in a savannah style landscape. Around 50 identical SUVs appeared in a large park on a hilly background.
Meanwhile, a Facebook post stated from “From Active Traction Control to Hill Start Assist, Toyota Hilux, Born to Roam”, and was accompanied by a video which showed a wide open plain with mountains on either side.
A swarm of the cars was then depicted from a distance moving across the plain causing dust to rise. Vehicles were then shown on an urban road side-by-side, with a final shot showing a car parked in a rocky, natural environment.
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Toyota argued that it was committed to positive environmental change and had introduced several hybrid and electric vehicles across their range since 1997.
“SUVs are being sold on a false promise of rugged adventure exploiting imagery of the natural world. In reality, SUVs are harming nature, polluting our air, clogging up our cities and causing tragic loss of life,” said Adfree Cities codirector Veronica Wignall.
“This ruling is welcome but regulation of SUV adverts is not enough; the promotion of SUVs should be terminated altogether,” she added.
Badvertising co-founder Andrew Simms added: “Toyota’s attitude to social and environmental responsibility skidded off the road years ago after its early introduction of a hybrid vehicle”.
“Since then not only has it lobbied to block the road to climate action and slow the greening of vehicles, it has been a part of the profit-driven push to ‘autobesity’ using big ad campaigns to get drivers to switch to bigger, more polluting and dangerous SUVs.”
