Dust Up: ASA Bans Toyota’s Off-Roading Hilux Ad • Professional Van

Toyota has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) by showing a group of Hilux pickups in an advert being driven across a vast plain, leaving a dust trail behind them. The swarm of pickups — we counted at least 20 — then made their way onto some city streets before one was parked on a residential driveway. A poster showed a scene from the advert with the caption “Born to Roam”.

Campaign group Adfree Cities objected to the advert on the grounds that the behaviour depicted was harmful to the environment, and the ASA agreed.

Toyota defended the claim, saying that the vehicles were never in an ecologically sensitive environment or a habitat with wildlife. The Hilux was meant for the toughest environments, and certain industries had a genuine need for off-road abilities, it explained, which included specialised workers such as farmers, forestry workers and park rangers. Toyota also argued that if ads could show cars on race tracks, then off-road environments should also be permissible.

Toyota believed no reasonable viewer would have understood the ad as encouraging UK consumers to drive irresponsibly in the UK countryside and cause environmental harm.

Despite that, the ASA upheld the complaint. It acknowledged Toyota’s comments that the sheer volume of cars in the ads would lead viewers to interpret the scenes as fantastical and not as a portrayal of real-world driving. However, it considered that the impression given by the driving scenes and messaging was one of driving regardless of its purpose, across off-road environments and natural ecosystems which had no regard for the environmental impact of such driving.

The ASA considered that the advert breached rule 1.3 of the CAP Code, which states that “Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society,” something they felt had not been adhered to.

The Hilux ad must not appear again, says the ASA, and Toyota was reminded to ensure its future marketing communications contained nothing likely to encourage irresponsible behaviour towards the environment.

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Phil Huff

Phil Huff, a seasoned automotive journalist since 2011, specialises in new car and van launches for national and regional newspapers, magazines, and online platforms. As the editor of light commercial vehicle publications Professional Van and Professional Pickup, Phil delivers high-quality content for a UK audience of LCV owner-operators and small business users.