A Nissan Frontier TV ad depicting the vehicle pushing a dune buggy stuck in sand over a hill seemed amazing, but the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says this is just a deceptive ad. The Nissan Frontier can't actually do that.
The thirty-second TV ad shows the Nissan Frontier speeding upwards a steep hill of sand and pushes a dune buggy over the top -- filmed in such a way to make it look like an amateur YouTube video.
According to FTC, the truck and the dune buggy were actually pulled up the hill using cables. That means the ad does not accurately show the true capabilities of an unaltered Nissan Frontier.
FTC said:
“The truck is not capable of pushing the dune buggy up and over the hill, and both the truck and the dune buggy were dragged to the top of the hill by cables . . . the hill was made to look significantly steeper than it actually was.”
“Special effects in ads can be entertaining, but advertisers can’t use them to misrepresent what a product can do... This ad made the Nissan Frontier appear capable of doing something it can’t do.”
Nissan and its advertising agency have entered into a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over charges of deceptive advertising. Neither Nissan or its advertising agency, TBWA Worldwide, will pay any fines. They agreed not to make any more misleading ads.
The ad aired in October and November of 2011.