Campaign group Badvertising has launched a new video which highlights the environmental impact of car adverts that promote unnecessary SUV ownership in towns and cities and the additional problems they can cause.
The latest campaign follows on from the group’s spoof Toynoca campaign, which slammed Toyota’s ‘Born to Roam advert’. The advert was banned by the ASA in November for presenting and condoning the vehicles in a way that “disregarded their impact on nature and the environment”.
Badvertising’s new video is in the style of a government announcement, complete with a logo which reads Ministry for the Climate Emergency.
It follows the city of Paris’ decision to triple parking chargers for SUV users.
🚙🚿Have you or someone you know been affected by CARWASH?
Symptoms are easy to spot and treatments ARE available 🩺 pic.twitter.com/RHrCpujuk7
— badvertising (@badvertising11) February 5, 2024
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“The Ministry for the Climate Emergency would like to warn you about the dangers of carwash, a brain condition caused by exposure to advertising,” the video begins.
“Tens of billions are being spent every year to tempt us to buy ever bigger cars. More than four out of ten new cars sold are now sports utility vehicles (SUVs), up from one in ten in less than a decade,” it continues.
“But there are problems. These are cars that aren’t met for city life, but they are mostly sold to people in towns and cities,” it adds.
It goes on to highlight the CO2 impact of the vehicles: “Adverts promoting car use could be increasing emissions by as much as those of the Netherlands or more than Australia’s each year”.
In addition, the video is accompanied by OOH adverts which read “If that’s an eco car then I’m a unicorn”.
image credit: Badvertising
