State and national insurance officials say a Toyota Motor Corp. ad campaign is encouraging viewers to commit fraud.
The amusing ads suggest that drivers eager to buy a new Toyota should dump their old car by pushing it off the roof of a parking garage, dropping a steel beam on it, or chopping down a tree so it falls on the vehicle. In one ad, a family works together to roll a boulder off a cliff onto their car.
The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts and the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, a Washington group that includes insurers, law enforcement officials, and consumer groups, say the unspoken message is that an insurance settlement from the old car will help pay for the new Toyota. Both groups have sent letters to Toyota urging the company to pull the ads. Dennis Jay, the executive director of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, said he believed fraud bureaus in several other states and some insurers also plan to write Toyota. Toyota has issued no formal response to the groups.
"No one believes that these commercials alone will entice car owners into criminal behavior," Jay wrote in a blog on the group's website. "But there is a growing body of research that suggests an environment that tolerates acceptance of unethical behavior does influence some people to act unethically. And these commercials add to that negative environment."
Daniel Johnston, executive director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts, said the only conceivable purpose for destroying your existing car, rather than simply trading it in, would be to collect insurance money to pay for a new car.
"Every scene that's described in the ads is a crime," Johnston said.
Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight told the Globe the car maker would review any letters of protest it has received. She said it was possible the company could modify the ads or add a disclaimer, but she emphasized that the spots were meant to be humorous, not to be taken literally.
"The intent was to sell new cars, not to convince people to destroy their old cars," Knight said. "It's just trying to be a little edgier than Toyota usually is."
The Toyotathon Phenomenon ads, which carry the tagline "something strange happens to people at this time of year," launched this month on national television.
Several appeared during the CBS broadcast of the New England Patriots game against the New York Jets on Sunday.
Johnston said many people in Massachusetts who work with him fighting insurance fraud have expressed amazement at the commercials. "People trying to stop insurance fraud just take offense at these commercials," he said.
Jay said the public's tolerance for insurance fraud has grown over the past 10 years. He cited a recent study commissioned by the coalition that indicates 26 percent of adult Americans - 60 million people in all - believe it's acceptable to commit insurance fraud. He said the percentage was 21 percent in 1997.
"Far from being a harmless television prank, insurance fraud imposes unacceptably high costs on Americans," Jay wrote to Toyota. "Insurance schemes steal tens of billions of dollars a year, and raise premiums for honest consumers throughout the nation."
Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.
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