Exuberant TVC for world’s most powerful pick-up deemed too dangerous for Aussie audiences
A TV commercial for the RAM 1500 TRX has been banned in Australia after the Advertising Standard Board’s Community Panel deemed it to be in breach of the FCAI Motor Vehicle Advertising Code by “portraying unsafe driving along with deliberate and significant environmental damage”.
The 30-second TVC has been in circulation for about four months now and depicts a new TRX owner taking his mate for a blast in the 523kW/882Nm super-ute – the most powerful new four-door model available in Australia – after being asked if he really needed a “Hemi V8”.
In the ensuing joy ride, the TRX is shown being punted along a gravel track and through puddles before rooster-tailing its way along the top of Stockton Beach sand dunes with more than 4000rpm showing on the tacho at one point.
The video eventually winds down with the shaken mate acknowledging the owner’s decision to purchase the world’s most powerful pick-up truck.
Ad Standards received an extended complaint from the president of a 4×4 club claiming the TVC promoted “hoon driving” and that they were offended on multiple levels, primarily by the “macho” and risky driving behaviour and its environmental impact.
“The passenger is shown at the end of the advertisement to be frightened by his experience of driving in such an aggressive manner,” the complaint reads.
“The display of driving is aggressive – unnecessarily so. It would probably encourage people to try to drive that way themselves, whether they owned a RAM or not.
“The potential for damage to drivers, passengers, cars and the environment is very real. This is not a safe demonstration of a responsible driver and sets an extremely bad example.
“It is pretty vile, advocates excessive power and aggression in driving.”
Despite RAM Trucks Australia addressing all of the complainant’s concerns, including the fact that speeds never exceeded 80km/h, the ad was ultimately deemed to be in breach of FCAI Motor Vehicle Advertising Code clauses 2a (shall not portray unsafe driving) and 2e (shall not portray deliberate and significant environmental damage), with both breaches revolving around the dune footage.
According to the case report, the panel decreed the vehicle was travelling at “unsafe” speeds on the sand and the final nails in the TVC’s coffin were the rooster tails and sand spray launched high above the TRX’s roofline.
“The Panel considered that it is dangerous to drive across sand quickly, especially on a steep dune, and that it is not uncommon for people to roll their vehicles if they do not drive slowly and with caution in such environments,” the panel said in its conclusion.
“The Panel considered that if a non-professional driver attempted to drive across sand dunes in the same manner as in the advertisement it could lead to an accident resulting in significant injury to the vehicle’s occupants.”
Exactly that happened late last year when footage emerged online – at Reddit via Tik Tok – of a wrecked TRX being dragged out of a South Australian dune network by an excavator, with witnesses claiming the driver “sent it off” a dune before the vehicle “jumped about 20m and nosedived, then flipped on his back”.
carsales is not insinuating this incident happened as a direct result of the advertisement – which was published in September – but it does serve as a good example of what can happen when driving irresponsibly or dangerously off-road.
RAM Trucks Australia was gracious in accepting the Ad Standards Community Panel’s findings and pledged to modify the advertisement to address the Panel’s concerns, especially the spray scene.
“RAM Trucks Australia would like to thank the Panel for considering the complaints and providing comprehensive and detailed feedback,” said the brand in response.
“We do take our commitment to compliance with the FCAI Voluntary Code of Practice for Motor Vehicle Advertising seriously and will continue to do so.
“RAM Trucks Australia is committed to creating an Advertisement that complies with the Code while continuing to demonstrate the vehicle’s performance attributes and characteristics.”
This is hardly the first time a car or truck advertisement has been banned; Ford Australia caused quite the stir this time last year when it aired a clip promoting the high-performance capabilities of the then-upcoming second-generation Ford Ranger Raptor, which was shown getting some decent airtime (pun intended).
Complaints from viewers said the driving shown in the ad was “dangerous”, “destructive” and “reckless”, despite the fact the Australian-developed Raptor was designed to deliver the exact type of desert jumping performance depicted in the ad.
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