Two Toyota Hilux advertisements have been banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority on the grounds that they don’t have “a sense of responsibility to society.” According to the Guardian, this is also the first time the ASA has prohibited a truck advertisement for failing to meet environmental and social responsibility standards.
The video in question shows a number of dozen Hilux trucks traversing a river and traveling off-road before returning to concrete roads and passing through urban areas. The second advertisement is a poster that shows two trucks climbing a hill and dumping dirt while numerous more trucks drive by in the background. “Condoned the use of vehicles in a manner that disregarded their impact on nature and the environment… they had not been prepared with a sense of responsibility to society,” the ASA said of those advertisements.
The lawsuit was filed by Adfree Cities, an advocacy group, and was later joined by Badvertising. “These ads epitomize [sic] Toyota’s total disregard for nature and the climate, by featuring enormous, highly polluting vehicles driving at speed through rivers and wild grasslands,” Adfree Cities co-director Veronica Wignall said in a statement. “It’s a cynical use of nature to promote something incredibly nature-damaging,” she went on to say.
A representative for Toyota told the Guardian:
Environmentally detrimental behavior is not supported by Toyota. In fact, over the last thirty years, Toyota has not only led the automotive industry in reducing carbon emissions throughout its entire vehicle lineup, but it has also shared hundreds of royalty-free licenses [sic], enabling other companies to utilize their electrification technology.
Toyota serves clients who need a dependable mobility solution for usage in the most difficult terrains—those who operate in off-road and remote settings—as part of its extensive worldwide vehicle lineup.
Additionally, they asserted that the poster was computer-generated and that the video was recorded “in a non-ecologically sensitive environment” on private property outside of the United Kingdom.
It’s also a little strange to hear the Hilux referred to as an SUV the entire time, even though it’s by no means the article’s primary topic. Language changes all the time, so it’s hardly worth getting upset when someone refers to a crossover as an SUV just because it’s not a body-on-frame vehicle. However, when was the last time someone other than the Guardian called a truck an SUV? Is that something unique to the British that we don’t see in America? It wouldn’t be the most shocking thing to ever happen—the British are known for doing strange things—but it would still be shocking. Isn’t that strange?
