Toyota HiLux ad banned in the UK due to off-road driving scenes

An online advertisement for the Toyota HiLux dual-cab ute in the UK has been banned due to its alleged "disregard" for the environment.

As reported by news agency Bloomberg, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority deemed the ad shows vehicles driving "in a manner that disregarded their impact on nature and the environment."

Promoted on Facebook, the video shows a convoy of HiLux utes driving through forests, rivers, and over open land, in scenes the narrator of the advertisement describes as “one of nature’s true spectacles."

This was accompanied by a series of posters – showing similar scenes to the video advertisement – placed at bus stops around the UK. 

According to Bloomberg, it is the first time the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned an advertising campaign over a depiction of off-road driving.

However in Australia the Advertising Standards Bureau has forced the removal of a number of automotive advertisements showing off-road driving in recent years.

Among them was a TV ad for the original Ford Ranger Raptor launched in 2018, which showed the dual-cab ute being driven enthusiastically off-road.

After the ad first aired on TV, the Bureau received complaints which objected to the “style of driving”, the “jumping”, and “ripping up the countryside”. 

Despite Ford Australia claiming it had followed guidelines by keeping speeds below 80km/h, choosing to not focus on the vehicle's acceleration, and displaying a disclaimer it was shot at a private test area, the video ad was pulled. 

The Bureau found “the overall impression of the advertisement was not of a testing area”, that “the use of a disclaimer, qualified driver and private testing facility does not justify the inclusion of any unsafe driving”, and that the Raptor was shown driving at “a speed which would be likely considered to be unsafe by many members of the community”.

Meanwhile an ad for the Toyota GR Yaris was pulled from TV in 2021 after the hot hatch was shown "appearing to lose traction in the back tyres" – albeit for a moment – which the Bureau said "would be considered to be a loss of control of the vehicle."