This Toyota Hilux ad has recently been banned in the UK by the local Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), which believed that the company exemplified irresponsible behavior with it. In the video, a dozen SUVs are riding in a dried-out riverbed.
Aside from the video, the ASA has banned an ad billboard depicting multiple Hilux trucks kicking up dust clouds out in the wilderness. The reason is the same: the images may inspire irresponsible drivers to harm nature by, well, off-roading their off-roaders. For what it’s worth, Carscoops points out that this is the first known case of the ASA imposing a restriction on an advertisement for this particular reason.
Toyota has already responded to the allegations saying the video was three years old and shot on a private land lot in Slovenia with an express permit from the landowner. The company has also reminded that it had spent 26 years researching the electrification of transports and reducing the environmental impact of cars.
Despite these explanations, the ad continues to be illegal in Great Britain.
