Britain's advertising watchdog has banned two Toyota adverts over their potential environmental impact, saying the ads for its off-road vehicles were created without a "sense of social responsibility". The Guardian.

This is the first time the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has blocked an off-road vehicle ad on the grounds of a breach of social responsibility in an environmental context.

The regulator banned two ads, first published in the 2020 campaign: a poster and a video shown on social media, where dozens of Toyota Hilux cars drive through off-road terrain, including a river, with a speaker describing the scene as "one of the real spectacles of nature." The vehicles then join the road and drive through an urban area, before a lone car pulls into the lane and the speaker continues: “Toyota Hilux. "Born to wander." The poster shows two off-road vehicles in the foreground, followed by a swarm of others traversing rocky terrain through a cloud of dust.

The complaint was filed by Adfree Cities, a network of groups trying to get advertising out of public spaces. They argued, in partnership with British campaigner Bedadvertising, that the ads condoned environmentally damaging behavior and called for an end to advertising of high-carbon products and services.

The ASA ruled that the ads "endorse the use of vehicles in a way that disregards their impact on nature and the environment, they were not prepared with a sense of responsibility to society".