Toyota pull elephant advert
May 2006

Following a campaign by CAPS to encourage Toyota to stop using animals in their TV ads, the car company has now announced that its recent ad has been relaunched without the use of an elephant.

Earlier this year, Toyota launched a TV ad for its Yaris car. The commercial featured Anne, the elderly, arthritic elephant transported around the UK with the Bobby Roberts Circus.

CAPS wrote to Toyota Managing Director Graham Smith, asking him to withdraw the ad and agree not to use animals in the future. We also encouraged our supporters to contact Mr Smith.

Toyota has informed CAPS that "this advertisement has now been withdrawn and will shortly be relaunched without the footage of Anne."

This is the third time that CAPS has persuaded companies to stop using Anne in their ads. The Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to stop using animals in adverts after CAPS criticised their use of Anne in a print ad for the MINT credit card. The AA made a similar promise following a CAPS campaign against the use of Anne in their TV ad for Roadside Recovery.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to contact Toyota with your concerns. CAPS is encouraging other companies to stop using animals in their ads - for more details click here.