But really, the rock just fell on it!

Toyota has a new advertising campaign geared at clearing out their current bloated inventory of SUV's. It involves average Americans devising clever ways of dropping very heavy things on their Jeeps, Explorers and other gas guzzlers. One commercial has a couple at the top of a cliff looking around to see who might be is watching just before they push a boulder over the edge to crush their Jeep parked below. In another ad, a crane operator drops a load of steel I-beams on his 4 X 4. While all this metal mayhem is going on, a voice over announcer barks about "finding a reason to buy a new Toyota."

Now, I have worked in the media biz long enough to know that television commercials appeal mostly to the seven deadly sins and not to reason and/or altruism. That is just the way advertising works. But this campaign has an undertone message that is both irresponsible and dishonest. The message beyond finding a reason to buy the Toyota SUV is the one of finding a METHOD to buy it. That message is," Its OK to commit insurance fraud to get what you want."

Think about it.

You are a member of the dwindling American middle class and you want (want,not need) a new car. Do you just trash your old one and head to the dealer? NO! No one could really afford to do that. You trash the car, head to the insurance agent to get a payoff and then to the dealer. That is the message being sent by Toyota's ad agency.

Don't get me wrong here. I am in no way defending the American insurance industry. They are infinitely more avaricious and greedy than the advertising business. But we as a people should not stoop to their level of compromised morals and selfish greed. We should not buy into their messages of conspicuous consumption. We can be, we must be better than that.