Toyota

Last updated: 28 November 2008

Toyota – Greenscrubbing Award for environmental impact

A pariah of environmentalists, the car industry seems to have cornered the market in environmental doublespeak when it comes to green claims. There are countless culprits: Landrover, Renault and Volkswagen have all come in for recent criticism from the green lobby, consumer groups and advertising standards authorities for exaggerating the environmental credentials of their vehicles.

But we decided to give Toyota this year’s Green-scrubbing Award for its consistent use of misleading slogans and contradictory marketing campaigns.

Toyota’s Harmony TV advert exclaims, “the best way to have an impact on the environment is to have as little impact as possible”, as a car, in the shape of the Prius Hybrid, is built out of natural materials before vanishing as if it is decomposing organically.

Despite favourable press and celebrity endorsements for its low emissions, we feel equating the environmental impact of the Prius with decomposing organic matter is disingenuous at best.

It is also extremely difficult to accept Toyota’s claims to be taking green issues seriously when considering its full range of vehicles.

Another advertisement, this time from New Zealand, states that the RAV4 Diesel is “the car nature wants to own” and shows rabbits climbing into the drivers seat (above). With CO2 emission of over 170 g/km, we’re not so sure.

Yet any claims, accurate or not, that Toyota makes about the minimal environmental impact of its vehicles are put into perspective by one of the company’s flagship marketing exercises.

Promoted globally in 2007 and 2008, including a TV series tie-in, Toyota’s Hilux Arctic Challenge involved driving a Hilux SUV to the North Pole. It was hailed as the first vehicle ever to do so. Considering the speed at which the Arctic ice sheets are melting due to climate change, it may also be the last.

Luke Upchurch, CI Head of Media:

“No matter how much the marketing department scrubs them up to be something else, vehicles that are run on non-renewable fuels are damaging to the environment. And even with its commendable advances in fuel efficiency, Toyota flushed all its greenwashing down the sink by taking a 4x4 on a promotional tour to the North Pole.”