TORONTO — The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) called on Subaru Canada to remove one of its latest radio advertisements from the airwaves this morning.

The ad is broadcasted in the form of a mock traffic report about a truck driver who supposedly hasn’t slept in two days and is eating a bag of chips while at the wheel. The ad then goes on to say the driver “is dozing off while trying to eat a bag of ketchup potato chips” and the situation “doesn’t look good.” A narrator then says the “roads are an unpredictable place, so drive with confidence,” before promoting Subaru products.

The CTA, in a letter to Subaru president Shiro Ohta, said that the ad paints an outdated caricature of the professional men and women who deliver our nation’s freight.

The radio spot makes light of highway safety and fatigue management, said David Bradley, CTA president.

“I assume that it was never Subaru’s intent to offend or convey a negative image of the trucking industry,” Bradley said as he called on the car company to withdraw the ad. “I also understand the advertisement is satirical and while I don’t begrudge a company from humorous marketing tactics (you need a sense of humour to survive in the trucking industry these days), this particular case comes at the expense of the hard-working professionals we rely on every day to deliver goods in a safe, reliable manner – some of the very same folks, frankly, that pick up and transport Subaru’s own products and vital just-in-time auto parts.”

Bradley went on to say that the ad was a "mischaracterization of truck drivers and plays on sterotypes that hearken back to the days of Smokey and the bandit, not the 21st century driver."

He added that the ad instills fear in consumers of sharing the road with trucks.

Joel Felstein, public relations manager at Subaru Canada, was quick to return a phone call from todaystrucking.com regarding the ad.

"As Mr. Bradley said, the ad was devised with a sense of humour," Felstein acknowledged. "There was absolutely no intent to convey any kind of negative image of the trucking industry. Clearly, it’s how all our vehicles get back and forth from the manufacturing point to the dealers.

"We count on the trucking industry, and we know the professionalism they offer by delivering our goods safely and on time. It was intended as humour, albeit not the best retrospectively. The ad is being pulled as we speak, and it should not be on the radio any longer."
 

Upon learning that the ads were immediately cancelled, Bradley said "We greatly appreciate the promptness with which Subaru Canada responded to our concerns. It says a lot about the company."