Toyota told to ditch advertising claim

Toyota has been told it must scrap the company’s “best built cars in the world” slogan after the advertising watchdog called it misleading.

The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland made the ruling following “a number of consumer complaints” questioning the veracity of the claim in light of widely publicised vehicle recalls.

Javelin Advertising, the agency for the car manufacturer, outlined what Toyota considered to be the key elements of its success and also submitted a range of publications and reports from a variety of international locations which it said provided substantiation for the claims.

It claimed Toyota “dominates” annual quality awards and value for money rankings, and stated its vehicles are known for holding their value better than competitors’ products.

It also pointed to five reports outlining the quality of Toyota manufacturing.

The authority also sought independent expert advice on the substantiation provided by Javelin.

The expert said that while he was not satisfied that a claim that a particular Toyota car was better built than cars such as Ferrari or Rolls Royce (which he described as super cars) had been substantiated, he considered that Toyota had substantiated a claim to be the “best-built mass-produced cars in the world”.

However, the authority ruled a very high level of substantiation would be required to prove a superlative claim such as “best built”, particularly in the context of it being “in the world”.

In response to the ruling, Toyota Ireland said the authority undertook its enquiry following an initial complaint by Owens DDB “on behalf of Toyota’s largest competitor Volkswagen”, which subsequently withdrew the complaint last year and a very small number of individual consumer complaints.

The chief executive of Toyota Ireland, Steve Tormey, said he was “bemused” by the ruling and the authority’s refusal to allow an appeal.

“It would appear to us they are dancing on a pinhead as regards the use of the English language and common sense, particularly given the independent automotive industry expert commissioned by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland expressed the viewpoint the proposition had been substantiated in relation to the ‘best built mass produced cars in the world’,” he said.

Mr Tormey said the company firmly believes the validity of its brand line is stronger than ever and said the authority has consistently accepted its claim as the “best-built car in the world” over a number of years.

“The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland decision is all the more baffling given we have been using the proposition in the Irish market for 20 years.

The Toyota advert was one of 15 found to have been in breach of the ASAI code on grounds relating to misleading advertising, principles, non-response and substantiation.