Forwarded by Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]

Even the anti-environmental Blue Ribbon Coalition expresses concern in
this article for the environmentally-unfriendly marketing tactics of some
SUVs...

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Environmentalists angered by ads glorifying off-road thrills

05/29/2000
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2000. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.


DENVER (AP) - Advertisements are meant to conjure up enticing images of
products, but some environmentalists are complaining some companies have
gone too far in marketing their products.

The controversy centers on television and magazine ads that show mountain
bikes, sport utility vehicles and other rugged vehicles having their way
with the land. The ads include ones from Kia showing a sport utility
vehicle storming up a creek in a forest with no road in sight; Mountain
Dew, which shows bikers going over a waterfall and pedaling down a
streambed; and Nissan, which features SUV drivers playing polo while
scarring a grassy countryside with their muddy tracks.

"The ads send a message that you can go out there and do your own thing,"
said Pam Eaton of the Wilderness Society.

Jack Welch of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a national off-road advocacy
group in Golden, added: "Most sport utility vehicles never go off the
road, but these macho ads get people salivating. People who see the ads
don't know you're damaging the environment when you drive in a waterway."

Once, he said, he came across an SUV blanketed with so much mud the doors
wouldn't open.

When he asked the driver why he drove into the mud, the driver replied,
"The ad said that the four-wheel drive will take you anywhere."

Welch and others like him say enough is enough. They're fighting to take
back their land and restore it to its state of purity.

One tool is President Clinton's roadless initiative affecting U.S. Forest
Service and other federally managed lands. His proposal to restrict all
modes of travel to established routes in forests and rangeland was a
response to a public lands inventory that found a multitude of
user-created byways carved into the earth.

They're also taking their campaign straight to the offending companies.
Welch says he and members of other motorized groups have been in contact
with the Ford Motor Co. about their ads that say the vehicles go anywhere
and with Chevrolet, concerning their "Like a Rock" ads.

Vera Smith of the Colorado Mountain Club urges consumers to do the same.

"People should give feedback to the advertisers and the special-use
magazines about it," she said.

Such complaints led to the U.S. Forest Service introducing the "Tread
Lightly!" program, under which vehicle makers, user groups and
conservation organizations monitor commercial pitch-making. Tread
Lightly!, now a nonprofit group based in Utah, works with recreationists
and manufacturers to promote environmentally ethical ads.

Lori Davis, the nonprofit's director, said her organization is successful
in curbing ads showing destructive use of vehicles. In recent years,
Mercedes-Benz, Jeep and Nissan have killed ad campaigns that showed land
abuse.

Also, Jeep has twice received the annual Tread Lightly! award for
environmentally responsible ads.

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