In what is sure to be a landmark ruling with reverberations around the globe, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a pair of Toyota SUV promotions “for breaching social responsibility in an environmental context.”The ads, which included a video and a poster, depicted its ‘HiLux’ pickup truck — which is branded as the Tacoma on this side of the Atlantic — running roughshod over rocky terrain in a cloud of dust with the caption: ‘Born to Roam’.In other words, something typical of any off-road marketing campaign for 4X4 trucks in this country as well..“These adverts epitomize Toyota’s total disregard for nature and the climate, by featuring enormous, highly polluting vehicles driving at speed through rivers and wild grasslands”Badvertising and AdFree Cities.But English anti-advertising activist groups Badvertising and AdFree Cities took expectation and argued the ads condoned “environmentally harmful behaviour” while promoting carbon emitting vehicles.“These adverts epitomize Toyota’s total disregard for nature and the climate, by featuring enormous, highly polluting vehicles driving at speed through rivers and wild grasslands,” it said.The groups filed a complaint with the ASA in 2021 and on Wednesday agreed the campaign which “condoned the use of vehicles in a manner that disregarded their impact on nature and the environment… had not been prepared with a sense of responsibility to society.”The ruling pointed out a perceived disconnect between the trucks were advertised — on rugged landscapes — with the reality that more than three-quarters of off-road vehicles never leave urban pavement..The activists are pressing for a tobacco-style ban on SUV advertising similar to what exists in North America.In a submission to the House of Lords in 2021, the ASA said it would begin screening “misleading” ads that go against the government’s climate change goals in accordance with the Paris Accord. “The ASA recognizes that as government sets new and ambitious targets, and as the scale of the challenge to avoid catastrophic climate change becomes ever clearer, advertising and, by extension, ad regulation needs to play its part in working towards agreed climate goals.”Other targets include airlines and sellers of beef products.Toyota defended the campaign by arguing that the HiLux is designed to be used in tough environments such as farming and forestry that have a genuine need for off-road vehicles even though it didn’t explicitly show the trucks in that setting.Toyota has faced increasing criticism from environmental groups over its reluctance to commit to fully electrical vehicles.
