Toyota New Zealand is no stranger to classic ads, with many legendary commercials under its belt before this one for the Hilux, including the run of legendary Hilux ads with Barry Crump and Lloyd Scott.
But this one created waves. It was a follow up to the iconic Crumpy ads, created by Saatchi & Saatchi in 1999, and featured an average Kiwi bloke going about his daily life on the farm, only to be struck by a series of mishaps because his new Hilux is just far more powerful than what he was used to.
Seems innocuous enough, but it was his repeated response to the mishaps that caused an uproar the length of the country. Well, at least in the parts of it that weren't used to such foul language...
That response? Bugger.
As strange as it seems now, it was the first time the word "bugger" had been used in a TV commercial and the more easily-offended were outraged, with the ad prompting more than 120 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (who ruled that the word was "unlikely to cause serious offence").
Taken in context it was a classic piece of Kiwiana pop culture and actually pretty mild compared to what a farmer would actually say if he knocked a fence over with his ute...
In response to the uproar, Andrew Tinning, Creative Director of Saatchi and Saatchi said "Setting out to offend people is not a smart thing to do."
"We have a responsibility to be sensitive, and not be offensive or exploitative. The last thing we want to do with a client is attract negative publicity."
We are sure he probably said that with an entirely straight face too, while enjoying the massive amounts of publicity he generated for Toyota NZ...
