most popular:
2008 Holiday Gift Guides



most popular: Hot Home Wind Turbines


most popular:
$19k Electric Car in US


th comments
Tricina said: "Consumers feel duped with all the greenwashing that companies have thrown at them. Fuji Water says they are "green to the last drop", Clorox has "G..." [read]

العاب said: "It seems we will never bring these anti nature pesticides to an end as long as these companies are eager to make material gains at the extent of en..." [read]

bryan said: "I pick up a piece of litter then drop it on the ground again. Is this littering? Releasing CO2 that would be released anyway is even l..." [read]

James said: "2 things not addressed: 1. If we are more mobile, then when a city makes a bad decision, businesses will migrate out faster. Okay, competit..." [read]

e. laud said: "I cycled and camped in Scotland this year for a week in the highlands. All the water I drank came from small streams and the odd river. Some ..." [read]

Lexus Advert Banned in UK

by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 05.23.07
Cars & Transportation (cars)

lexus440.JPG

"High performance. Low emissions. Zero guilt." That was the claim made in a Lexus ad campaign. However, the Advertising Standards Authority didn't agree, and has banned the advert on the grounds of false claims.

Although the ASA agreed that, for an SUV, the car had low emissions. However the headline was misleading because it implied, incorrectly, that the car caused little or no harm to the environment.

There were only ten complaints about the Lexus RX 400h advert, but that was enough to provoke an investigation and have the advert banned entirely. Although I hate the idea of encouraging people to complain, and to fuel bureaucracy, it does seem like a very effective way of calling out green-washing advertising agencies. Next time you see an ad that claims revolutionary fuel efficiency or some other such nonsense, you may want to consider following the link below and making a complaint. :: The Guardian

See also :: Make a complaint online in the UK

Comments (8)

Too bad that is a picture of a Mazda, not a Lexus...

jump to top Brian says:

Your article picture appears to be of a Mazda CX-7.

jump to top Matt says:

I'm afraid I don't know a lot about the profile of SUVs. I found that image labelled as a Lexus, and used it without checking.

Perhaps TreeHugger needs a picture editor!

jump to top Matthew says:

I'm an avid Treehugger but the Advertising Standards Authority is a gross abuse of regulatory power. Britons may not have a written bill of rights but they do have a constitutional tradition. I've seen posters in the tube where the ASA actively solicits complaints, which is just government money used to cultivate croakers.

No government authority is competent to judge whether an advertiser is making a joke or asserting a fact.

Nanny Labour has dropped the ball on so many things, maybe its time for some (old-fashioned) Tory self-reliance.

jump to top rob says:

Actually, for a treehugger, I'd say that it is a compliment to be so green that you can't tell one SUV from another.

jump to top Alison says:

It doesn't take many complaints to the ASA to have an advert pulled (one will do it). They seem to work on a "one complaint, a million vaguely annoyed people" principle, and good on them too.

jump to top Tom says:

Well I'm sure the folks at Mazda would be happy to hear that you thought their vehicle was a Lexus. I'm sure that would mean mission accomplished for the design team :)

Not that this Mazda SUV is any friend to the environment though...

jump to top Matt says:

"No government authority is competent to judge whether an advertiser is making a joke or asserting a fact."

Great! So the marketing dept can just keep on spouting rubbish!

jump to top MY says:

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

th ads
th top picks
th ads