asmac

I can't find it online but just saw a Toyota TV ad (not sure if it was a Canadian or American channel) that shows a boss walking up to a young, ambitious guy in a cubicle. The boss says "Let's take your car to the meeting" and the young guy looks forlornly at a bicycle leaning against his cubicle wall. This is followed up by something about missed opportunities and low lease rates.

Another ad from a few years ago that treats bikes as 'obstacles' in a war with a Toyota Scion. (In new ad, Scion sees bike riders as obstacles in a fight - BikePortland.org)

Toyota seems to have a bug in its @ss regarding cycling.

badrad

Could you imagine an ad where the boss walks up to the employee and says "Let's bike together to the meeting!"

I guess not in our world...

mr_bill

I can imagine such a world - have biked with co-workers, have walked with co-workers, I have even hiked with co-workers. More often than I've been in cars with co-workers.

-mr. bill

Wilfred Laurier

Does anyone remember the Top Gear (UK) 'public service announcements' regarding cycling?

Matariki

Don't rule it out. I'm a boss who would definitely say this. I haven't yet because 1) I'm the only one who cycle commutes at the moment and 2) it's quicker to walk. At my employer's we generally have to attend meetings up to a mile away. Because of the configuration of routes and the low probability of finding a quick parking place (or securing a bike), it takes 10 minutes to walk, 12 minutes to bike, and 20 minutes to drive.

So I almost always say "Let's walk to the meeting"

CrankyOne

They've also been amazingly critical of battery electric vehicles saying that they'll not catch on and that fuel cell is the future.

Not just Toyota. GM heavily promoted a print ad some years ago showing a guy on a bike being passed by a guy and gal in a GM car with the gal looking at the bike rider with a half laugh. Volvo believes that the way to make people safer from the weapons they sell is for these people to paint themselves with temporary day-glow paint. More than anything Volvo is promoting that riding a bicycle is dangerous and so better to be in a car. Seems there were some other anti-bike ads from vehicle companies in the past.

They don't want to see happen elsewhere what happened in The Netherlands.

ItsJustMe

Why the heck would a boss want to go to a car for a meeting? The only excuses I can think of are extremely dodgy (IE he's going to make a pass at you or something and doesn't want witnesses).

gpburdell

I think you misunderstood the OP. The implication was to use the employees car to drive TO an (offsite) meeting. When you deal with clients such things are not at all uncommon.

Daniel4

With all the companies I had worked with, when a group of people need to drive somewhere for a meeting everybody is involved in making that decision based on who has enough space in his or her vehicle. No hint of discrimination as some people do take public transit to work too.

If this is a true case of missed opportunity, it should be taken up with HR.

mozad655

Oh yes. They were absolutely hilarious. I still laugh just thinking about them.

Daniel4

What if the boss said "Let's talk it over a smoke" and you don't smoke?

Wilfred Laurier

The advocacy panel they were presenting to was also hilarious in their incredulous stares

Wilfred Laurier

That commercial could be re-edited as an ad for tandem bikes.

kaisersling

or they are, ya know, trying to sell cars. Pro-Camry is not necessarily anti-bike.

prathmann

OTOH, there was the SAAB commercial from the '90s which stated: "People who care about the world they live in think before they choose their car, and before they use it." and showed the owner bypassing the SAAB in his garage and hopping on his bike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rEu...6C8EF&index=44

caloso

The Toyota ads in NorCal feature Buster Posey. They're not anti-anything, except maybe anti-Dodger by implication.

CrankyOne

And Subaru has been a significant sponsor of bike racing.

spare_wheel

I've biked to events with my boss many times.

ItsJustMe

Ah yes, I did.

I'd be happy to drive people on days that I drive. My car is clean and runs well, but probably a 16 year old rusty Ford minivan isn't the most impressive thing around. People who think not driving with the boss to a meeting is a lost opportunity probably wouldn't think my car is an improvement.

Essex

I miss Saabs. Cool, quirky cars.

asmac

Of course they are and they're doing it by implying that people who bike to work are losers.

Wanderer

I already visited the Toyota website, and sent an e-mail voicing my displeasure.

I-Like-To-Bike

With quirky ads too. Maybe they should have used Toyotas's ad agency.

Chris516

I did the same thing.

B. Carfree

That thing is just screaming for a makeover. Maybe something with the boss being a typically obese American and the fit up-and-comer getting all the breaks because he doesn't follow a failed paradigm. It could even be as silly as the bus ads in Denmark.