Toyota Yaris Ad Pulled After Sexism Complaints (VIDEO)

Toyota has been forced to pull a new advertisement in Australia following numerous accusations that the video was not only sexist but also making light of incest.

The online ad, entitled "Clean Getaways," is for the Toyota Yaris, a small car mainly sold to young women, according to the TheAge.com. The video, which is full of sexual innuendos and suggestive double entendres, begins with a young man arriving to pick up his date and telling the girl's father at the door, "I'm here to take Jennifer's virginity out tonight." From there the young man reels off such lines as "I hope I haven't come too prematurely," "it has traction control for when it gets a bit slippery and wet," and "I'll have her on her back by 11, I promise."

The ad was created as part of the "Clever Film Comp," a short-film competition organized in part by Toyota. Not long after the ad became the winner of the online contest, the competition's Facebook page was flooded with outraged comments from users, the London Times reports.

One entry on the competition's Facebook page said, according to the Telegraph:

"I have written and lodged a formal complaint with Toyota's Australian head office regarding this specific competition entry/winner. I would encourage those who feel the same to also write formal complaints to Toyota. This is 2009! Women should not have to be dealing with this vulgar objectification."

The charge that the ad made light of incest seems to stem from a line in which the father tells the young man, in reference to his daughter, "She can take a good pounding in any direction."

As one user wrote about this particular part of the ad: "The ad features a father and his daughter's boyfriend agreeing together, in a matey way, that the daughter is going to get a 'good pounding'. It has incestuous overtones."

The ad has been pulled from the "Clever Film Comp" website, and a spokesman for Toyota has apologized for any offense caused.

WATCH the ad:

Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[jalowe1957]

04:49 PM on 12/16/2009

Like beauty, double entrendes are in the eyes (and ears) of the beholder.

[westreal]

08:29 AM on 12/16/2009

This is one of the most well made commercials I've seen that used double entendre to get it's point across. And I don't see how anyone could link this to incest. But I guess if you're guilty of it, you think like that.

[mizbee]

08:12 PM on 12/15/2009

I was all ready to be outraged in my feminist way, but this commercial "acts" better than it "reads." I.e., the dialogue seems shocking when it's on paper, but the actors make it sort of subtle and inadvertently funny, like the date can't help himself and the double entendres are just sailing over Dad's head. Still, it's weird that the dad kicks up his heels at the end. I don't know any dad who would react like that even if his daughter is going out with the most obsequious guy!

[elatas]

08:50 AM on 12/16/2009

My dad would have made me change clothes. Did you see that cleavage? She looks mcuh older than the guy. And the dad supports a "banging"? Double entendres are fine but in this case, not a success.

[johnr49]

09:48 AM on 12/16/2009

Dad supports a "banging"? - boy, are you reading something into that as that isn't there.
The comment "She can take a good pounding in any direction" is a reference to the Yaris, NOT the daughter: if you watch the boy's face when the Dad says it, it's obvious that he's just reeled off descriptions of a few of the car's safety features from memory, while his mind is clearly elsewhere; when the Dad makes the comment, he's stunned speechless, until it dawns on him that the Dad was talking about the car!

[ptobe]

04:49 PM on 12/15/2009

"The ad features a father and his daughter's boyfriend agreeing together, in a matey way, that the daughter is going to get a 'good pounding'. It has incestuous overtones."

Really? Wow - what's on this person's mind?

It may be in bad taste - but incest?? I don't think so.

I think the ad's worst sin is reusing an already overused concept of the "subtext as text".

[fredjernig]

04:12 PM on 12/15/2009

It's funny, and nice.
Can't we laugh about sex?
Anyway, being prudish doesn't mean nothing's happening, right all you conservative politicians and preachers... In fact prudishness often attempts to hide perversity (which simple horniness is not).

Also, those who see incest here must have it in their own sick minds, because the father is just making a "witty" response to the safety features.

I also like, "while you're driving her home"; that's hilarious, didn't catch that one the first time 'round.

As for this women as objects thing, oh, come on! Like women don't think about sex and like sex and think of men naked, etc. You think about sex, about your partner's body and you are guilty of objectifying them.

The sick minds of prudish perverts and anhedonistic feminist extremists meet again. God knows what happens when they meet in bed -- it's probably much worse than what this poor bugger is thinking of with highly consenting Jennifer in his Yaris.

What was also funny (not being familiar with the Australian accent) was when the father says "WHITE" in the beginning, (in fact, "WAIT" in Australian). Cheers!

[slappymagoo]

04:11 PM on 12/15/2009

Well, color me old fart, but I found it dreadful. Nothing I personally find offensive, just not funny, the same way I recognize Saved By The Bell as being something that is supposedly funny without ever having laughed once. Maybe it's just the timing, the climax to the spot should have happened much faster. Sometimes taking your time is a mistake, and to feel the true impact, the funny's gotta hit hard, bam! Bam! Bam! No time for subtlety, no time for regret, just get to it and get out...

...I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?

[johnr49]

09:55 AM on 12/16/2009

Sounds like your love-making's about as subtle as your taste in humor!

[drharro]

03:53 PM on 12/15/2009

What impact will the Clever Film Comp have on Toyota? - help me find out.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7823L7J

[Zeebob]

03:22 PM on 12/15/2009

I think its funny. Maybe they should just change his expression after they leave the stoop, the way he looks down towards them looks like he's disappointed those but t che eks are leaving.

[jonez]

03:11 PM on 12/15/2009

no need to pull this, it's funny.

[headly66]

02:54 PM on 12/15/2009

This chick is incredible, any Aussies know her name?

[sagcat]

01:13 PM on 12/15/2009

I think it's always funny when the prudes call attention to the things that bother them. Every twelve year old girl knows about Lolita, but this would never be true without the loud complaints from the prudes.

Always funny.

Also, this ad? Funny. Things you can and never will say. Turns the dynamic of the "meeting the father when you pick the daughter for a date" on it's head. Both are almost openly talking about exactly what's (normally) on *both* their minds and both are trying so hard to pretend *isn't* on their minds. This takes that situation and removes the taboo, and just lets us experience the uncomfortable with a bunch of jeu-de-mots. I think it's brilliant.

And it's not sexist to suggest that a man and a woman might be having sex that night. They even included the girl in the double entendre to show that everything they're discussing is 100% consensual.

[johnr49]

01:24 PM on 12/15/2009

I agree completely - the dialogue reflects what's in their minds, rather than what they actually say.

[STUPIDgit]

01:49 PM on 12/15/2009

So true. It's not a brilliant ad - but it's an ad that offers a few chuckles which is more than can be said for most offerings.

I just love how all the prudes feel compelled to watch an ad - labelled as sexist - just so than can claim how offensive it was to their delicate sensibilities. Here's a suggestion, if you don't like it, don't click to watch. Otherwise, pull your undies from you nether regions and learn to laugh.

[johnr49]

01:36 PM on 12/15/2009

I think both Jamie and a lot of posters have completely misunderstood the "She can take a good pounding in any direction" comment - the young man's talking about the Yaris, but thinking about sex, so when the Dad makes that comment, he's shocked (just look at his face) until he realizes that the Dad is referring to the car!

[Carl]

01:00 PM on 12/15/2009

English and Australian humour can be vulgar, but very clever. You can't do that in the States, because sex is bad. Young people don't have sex in the United States you see.....and it's no laughing matter.

That aside, it was a funny and clever ad. Too bad we have to cave in to the moral moronity.

[Volkmoidruk]

12:44 PM on 12/15/2009

"This is 2009! Women should not have to be dealing with this vulgar objectification."

Nor should men:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Holly-Leam-Taylor-Email-Deloitte-Trainee-Quits-Job-After-Email-About-Fit-Men-Goes-Round-World/Article/200912215498729?lpos=UK_News_Third_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region__3&lid=ARTICLE_15498729_Holly_Leam-Taylor_Email%3A_Deloitte_Trainee_Quits_Job_After_Email_About_Fit_Men_Goes_Round_World_

[Blues02]

04:26 PM on 12/15/2009

Very true but objectification of men sexually in advertisements does not happen as often as women. One example of an email from a woman ranking men does not make the situation on equal footing.

[redviper787]

04:58 PM on 12/15/2009

Men are objectified for status, wealth, disposabililty, violence, power - all of which women require of their fantasy alpha males (see: romance novels, soaps, blockbuster chick-flicks such as Twilight, New Moon, Sex and the City, etc).

[XRaraavis]

11:38 AM on 12/15/2009

I am more offended by how lame the dialog is and how the situation doesn't make sense.

The young man introduces himself as "horny" and says "I'm here to take Jennifer's virginity out tonight." before the car is brought up. Did the father miss this or is this what the young man is thinking but is really saying something else to the father? Suddenly when the car is brought up by the strange question of "do you have protection for when you are driving her home" are we suppose to believe that the are now having a literal conversation and the father believes they are talking about the car and not the girl. When the father says "She can take a good pounding in any direction.", Why is the young man shocked? The fathers comment is not out of context if he is talking about the car, it also not out of context in reference to the girl considering what the young man has been saying about her. It is just poorly written.

[justins79]

11:51 AM on 12/15/2009

Are you serious? The pre-tense of the dialog is extremely easy to grasp since it is a stable of all parent/teen movies. The dialog is exactly what the father heard in his mind, not what the kid actually said.

I thought the commercial was hilarious and I'd like to see it run in the US but I know the PTC would throw a fit. All the more reason to do it!

[XRaraavis]

12:07 PM on 12/15/2009

OK, If the premise is this is all in the fathers head and he believes that the young man has the intention to do these things and talk this way about his daughter why does the father say "she will take a good pounding from any direction." and why doesn't he react to protect his daughter. The cliché would be for him to threaten the young man or act protective of his daughter but he really doesn't do either he joins in with the "pounding" comment.

[freddiefranks]

11:31 AM on 12/15/2009

While crude, I fail to see the incestuous overtones. Nevertheless, pretty tasteless, albeit not very shocking.