It appears that the rules that govern the way companies can advertise their cars are stricter than even we thought. Toyota seemed to think the way they portrayed the advert for the GT86 would fit within those parameters, unfortunately that was not the case.
The ad shows a man driving his GT86, breaking out of his dull lifestyle in order to join a world of long winding roads and fast cars, but apparently there were TWO complaints made which in turn lead to this ad being banned by the advertising standards authority. The ad was apparently “irresponsible and condoned dangerous driving” and the ASA came down on Toyota telling them “not to portray speed or driving behavior in a way that might encourage motorists to drive irresponsibly in future”.
As performance enthusiasts here at Keith Michaels, and providers of performance car insurance, we wonder just how the ASA expect companies to advertise such vehicles that are built to go fast. Looking deeper into the problem we ask ourselves is this the reason that competitions such as the touring car events and rallying competitions are dipping in popularity year by year? The Toyota GT86 will be a car that excites drivers when they get into it, there is no doubt of that, but how will Toyota market the GT86 and get the figures they want in sales if they cannot advertise that car for what it was purposely built?
The ASA went on to say “there must be no suggestion that a vehicle is to be preferred because of its power or speed. Words like ‘performance’ can be ambiguous and care should be taken to make the meaning clear.” The GT86 is a quick car, this is something buyers need to be shown/told. It worry’s us that things are this strict already and we wonder just how far the ASA are going to go when it comes to restrictions in advertising, will they ban ads completely from allowing people to drive in them? We don’t know where things will go from here but needless to say it’s worrying.
Here at Keith Michaels we specialize in Japanese car insurance and performance car insurance. Due to our years of experience in the business we are able to get competitive premiums for Toyota GT86 car insurance too. For your quote please call today.