Why, Toyota?

Deron Lovaas (Alum)

Robert F. Kennedy once asked "You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'"

Now Toyota has audaciously -- and expensively -- echoed him in a new ad campaign touting their green reputation. The centerpiece is an ad directed by an Academy-Award-winning director which features a Prius sprouting in a field and then blowing apart like a collapsing haystack into the same field. Having just watched it, I can say that it is ridiculously cheesy. And this comes from a dyed-in-the-wool greenie.

But that's not what's appalling about this effort, which I assume is a response to the fact that we called Toyota on their green bluff, pointing out that while they have green products their position on fuel economy policy stinks. What's really annoying are the goofy, supposedly artsy rhetorical questions they ask in the ad.

Most notably: "Can we make a car that has zero emissions?" and "Can you have an impact by making none at all? Why not?"

As noted in Brandweek, Toyota is talking out of both sides of their mouth. They talk a big, pseudo-poetic game about products while they fight policy reform that would make a much bigger dent in the threats of oil addiction and global warming.The other big thing that's galling is that this is probably the largest ad campaign in their history. They will end up sinking about 40 MILLION BUCKS into this attempt to repair the company's green mantle, which has become frayed due to their wrongheaded position on policy.