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For the second time in just over a year, Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority has busted Lexus for making unsupported “green” claims in an advertisement. The Guardian reports that a recent ad for the Lexus RX400h has been pulled for implying “that the car caused little or no harm to the environment and gave a misleading impression of the car’s CO2 emissions in comparison with other vehicles.” The ad which asserted that the hybrid RX was “perfect for today’s climate (and tomorrow’s)” caused four complaints to the ASA, which apparently is enough to get an ad pulled in the Land of Hope and Glory. Meanwhile, Lexus said that the use of the word “climate” in the ad was meant to operate at “two levels.” As Farago says, irony is a bitch.
14 Comments on “Lexus Busted For Greenwash Lies. Again....”
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You just can love when this things happens to these guys =)
Guilt. Always an effective marketing strategy.
I think by saying, “perfect for today’s climate (and tomorrow’s)”, they meant that the air conditioning was improved to fight warmer temperatures.
Like watching a house cat misjudge a jump…
But it’s a hybrid, and the tailpipe emissions from hybrids consist solely of pollen and petals. Right?
I think unicorn farts are are in there too quasimondo.
Four people complain and that forces Lexus to pull the ad? I’m no Lexus fan, but jeez, those four people need to get a life.
arapaima :
I think unicorn farts are are in there too quasimondo.
Do they smell like roses?
Guilt has always been a marketing tactic with Toyota… here it was usually the “quality”
That’s the real problem: the four people complaining thought the only emissions should be unicorn farts. Unfortunately, the UK Advertising Authority can’t countenance a controversial ad!
Even the mighty GM (via Holden) is loose with the truth (surprise, surprise, surprise!) GreenwashOz
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24368862-26017,00.html
CAR giant GM Holden will retrain marketing staff and plant 12,500 trees to make amends after being found guilty of running a misleading green marketing campaign last year.
The Federal Court yesterday found GM Holden had breached the Trade Practices Act with its “Grrrreen” campaign, which made false and misleading claims about new Saab cars sold between July and September last year.
Holden’s Saab ads claimed the company had planted enough trees to offset the greenhouse emissions for the entire life of the vehicle, but in reality it had only planted 17trees per car, enough for the first year. The offending ads claimed “every Saab is green, with carbon emissions neutral across the entire Saab range”.
joeaverage,
You made me laugh out loud. Hope I didn’t wake up the wife. Schoedenfreude (sp?) is a vice, but its one of the more forgivable ones.
If there is any infringement on free speech that I could ever stomach, it would be truth in advertising. Of course, I would vote against having he government regulate it, but its easy to think it might be a good thing.
Perhaps though, the govenment(s) could mandate this tree planting for every vehicle sold. Just imagine planting enough trees to offset your SUV emissions then plant some more to get “green” credits against the fuel consumption in future. Then you can hafe CAFE and CATP Corporate Average Tree Planting. Then turn the trees into E85 to fuel your vehicles into the future. Utopia is within reach!
Death to the offenders…..they produce more CO2 with every breathe the exhale.
By sitting on my couch and watching football all weekend, I have reduced my CO2 emissions by not breathing as much…..althought there is the trade off of additional nitrogen expellation due to the beer and chili-cheese nachos. Can I advertise myself as green on dating websites now?
I feel like Nelson on “The Simpsons.”
I just want to point at Lexus and say “HA HA” in that sing song voice of his.
Really though, I’m amazed at what people raise hell about anymore.
Hmm. I’m not a big fan of Toyota, or their holier-than-thou attitudes with the hybrids, but this scares me.
This ad was pulled because they embellished facts? Well based on that there should be no advertising for cars at all. Or advertising in general.
No, what we have here is the Green Police on patrol whitewashing everyones minds with what can be published. If a claim is BS, people should judge for themselves. If stupid peolple believe the claim and buy the car, they deserve to be suckered. The rest of us can ignore it.
People complain about the Patriot act but Britain has removed even more civil liberties. First its advertising. Then editorials are censored. Where does it stop? In stead of laughing at Toyota we should all be outraged.