Ford Ranger Raptor TV advertisement pulled for showing ‘reckless driving’

FORD has been forced back to the drawing board after censors decided its new ad for the Ranger Raptor was unsuitable for television.

The Ford Raptor has been de-clawed.

The TV advertisement for the brand’s rough-and-tumble new $75,000-plus ute has been pulled because authorities claim it shows reckless driving.

A panel from the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau found that the ad portrayed unsafe driving.

In particular the panel took exception to the scene where the off-road capable ute was seen going over a bump on an off-road track at speed and leaping into the air with all four wheels off the ground.

The panel also believed the ad showed unsafe driving because the vehicle took a sharp turn on a dirt road, flicking loose dirt in the air. They believed that this gave the overall impression of the use of excessive speed.

The Ranger Raptor has had some serious off-road upgrades

Ford argued that the vehice never exceeded 80km/h and that it was piloted by a professional driver wearing protective gear including a helmet on private property.

One complaint lodged to the Advertising Standards Bureau says: “The new Ford Ranger ad where it races out of a shed, tyres lifting off the road, doing burnouts in a paddock. This type of driving is very dangerous and should not be shown on a TV ad. Plus I thought car ads weren’t supposed to show idiots speeding behind the wheel.”

Another read: “Certainly not an example to set depicting what appears to be ultra fast acceleration from inside a shed out onto dirt roads jumping over rises and then going off road and ripping up ground surface by spinning wheels under power only encourages unsafe and destructive driving by others.”

In response Ford has pulled the ad from circulation and says it will use the panel’s findings to re-edit the advertisement in line with guidelines.

The Ranger Raptor is priced from $74,990.

The Ranger Raptor is the maker’s new flagship ute in Australia. The Raptor’s off-road credentials have been beefed up with Fox shocks, unique chassis, wider track, bigger brakes and nobbly tyres with the main aim of going fast off-road.

The dual-range 4WD features adjustable Terrain Management electronics and has an aggressive off-road setting called “Baja” which is designed specifically for off-road racing.

Power comes from a 2.0-litre twin-turbocharged four-cylinder diesel engine (157kW/500Nm) mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission.