An advert promoting the Toyota GR Series has been banned following a campaign by the Green Party.

Despite the fact no readers of either the Guardian or i newspapers had made a complaint after seeing the adverts in the press this spring, the Advertising Standards Authority ruling that the poster encouraged ‘unsafe or irresponsible driving’.

The Worthing branch of the Green Party took offence at both the language and imagery used in the advert, with three cars on a tight country lane and the GR Series delivering heart-pumping excitement of the GR series.

“As a grandparent who takes his grandsons to school by bicycle, I felt it was entirely inappropriate for the Toyota ad to boast about ‘race bred cars’ for fast driving and excitement on our roads,” said Green Party chairman, Steve Carleysmith.

“Worthing Green Party strongly supports making our roads safer and calmer for walkers and cyclists.”

Toyota defended their ad to the ASA explaining that there was no intention to encourage racing on public roads. But the ruling was made to ban the advert in its current form, with the ASA explaining: “We considered that the overall impression created by the ad was a suggestion that the high-performance nature of GR Series vehicles meant that drivers of those vehicles could push the boundaries of safe and responsible driving and that it was desirable and enjoyable to do so.

“We concluded that in so doing the ad condoned and encouraged unsafe or irresponsible driving.”

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