Toyota gets hand slapped for false hybrid advertising in UK
Seems like it was just last month that Toyota was in trouble in the UK for running with a misleading Lexus RX400h ad (oh, wait, it was last month). And guess what? The Prius is not immune to the Toyota false advertising charge, either. The problem, once again, is overhyped environmental friendliness, according to the Guardian Unlimited.
The misleading part of the ad is that when Toyota says the Prius emits up to one ton of CO2 less than similar family cars, the number is based on average annual drives of 12,430 miles. But that's the average people drive in the US. In the UK, the number is actually 8,340 miles. Fewer miles in the UK, less CO2 overall, less likely to add up to that easy-to-remember "one ton" amount. Whoops.
Or not whoops. The ad was made by Saatchi and Saatchi Japan, not exactly newbies in the advertising world, and Toyota says their "up to" disclaimer puts them in the clear. The Advertising Standards Authority, which brought down the hammer on the Lexus ads, forbid Toyota to broadcast the Prius ad again in the same form.
C'mon Toyota. You've already got the Greenpeace segment of the car buying public, and you're making a lot of inroads into the "normal" market with your hybrids. There's no reason to play so light and loose with your statistics all the time. But, you've got all our interests piqued, and for all the readers interested in seeing the commercial, it's after the break.
[Source: Rebecca Smithers and John Vidal / Guardian Unlimited via Hybrid Car Review. And thanks to Linton for the tip, via Hugg.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michael 6:08PM (6/07/2007)
Thanks for the mention on the source.
It's interesting how strict the UK seems to be when it comes to advertising. I know the US has standards, but I'm not sure we would be as strict.
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Scatter 7:01PM (6/07/2007)
You can read the adjudication here:
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_42615.htm
The funny thing is that if you compare the Prius (104g/km) to the average car bought in the UK (167g/km) and use the average UK mileage (about 9,000 miles) then you get 0.9 tonnes. And the Avensis is almost exactly the same size and weight as the Prius but puts out 171g/km. I think they missed a trick and it would have been fine if they hadn't tried to fool around with engine capacities or compare it to diesels.
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Joseph 12:01AM (6/08/2007)
This is silly. If it is off by only 0.1 tonnes as "Scatter" says, then what is the big deal! It'd be funny if another car company, perhaps jealous of Toyota's "green" Prius, was the driving force behind this.
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Scatter 7:23AM (6/08/2007)
I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case Joseph. The thing is that they used the wrong stats to justify the wording so strictly they are in the wrong. I think it might be quite likely that they'll be able to reword it and still run with a very similar strapline.
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