Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Ad Nauseam

Ad Nauseam: Toyota’s (Passive-Aggressive) Ransom Note to America

Toyota wants you to know that it's here for you. And not just as a
car maker, as the company explains in this spot, ironically entitled
"Community."

Like GM before them, Toyota wants to make sure you realize just how much their company means to you. Here's our voice-over:

"We acknowledge you are coming to despise automobiles,but your nation depends on our industry for so many jobs that, even ifwe only manufactured cardboard cut-out cars that you had to carry downyour few remaining walkable Main Streets, you'd still need us,America."

Accompanying the ad is the aggressively cloying and patently manipulative "Beyond Cars"
web site --
which if nothing else should serve as an irresistible culture-jamming
target. What do we see, Toyota? For starters, we see a world where your product doesn't kill people.

And you? What do you see?

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Don’t Believe the Hydrogen Train Hype

Calling hydrogen-powered trains "zero emission" is misleading at best - and even if they were, they lost the race to be "first" a long time ago

July 16, 2024

Upcoming CicLAvia Maps: August in the Hollywoods, September in Lincoln Heights, and More

Mark your calendars: August 18 in West Hollywood through East Hollywood, September 15 in Lincoln Heights, October 13 in the Heart of L.A., and December 8 in the Valley

July 15, 2024

This Week In Livable Streets

Metro board committees, Metro and Caltrans 605/5/10/60/105 freeway expansion, Arroyo Seco ride, C Line delays, 105 Freeway corridor equity, and more

July 15, 2024
See all posts