Yet another modest proposal

There is no such thing as he "war on the car". Whether we view cars as their physical reality, tin boxes with a wheel at each corner, or as concepts, or as cultural tropes, cars are not moral agents and do not have a right of self defence. If we as a society choose to limit or even eliminate the operation of private automobiles in our society, or particularly in our cities, we can do so. It requires no war and no conflict. We are not in a war; we are having a debate. 

As with any debate, each side has the right to make its case. In the debate over the place of the private automobile,the ubiquitous presence of advertising by car manufacturers complicates the discussion. While car manufacturers' advertising aims to sell vehicles, and vehicles of a particular make and model, car advertising creates a particular image of motor vehicle use that influences, and distorts, the discussion of the use we as a society make of the automobile.

The public, both the motoring and non-motoring public, devotes a large proportion of public space to the operation and storage of private automobiles. City dwellers pay, through property taxes, to build and maintain urban roads required for mass motoring. We all pay the environmental and human costs of a system that relies on the private car for a large proportion of our transportation.  We can reasonably expect the contribution automobile manufacturers make to our discussion of these costs, through their advertising, to meet minimal standards of realism.

I propose the following standards for vehicle advertising. None of these are either onerous or original. Most of them simply adhere to the principle of truth in advertising.

1. Advertising for motor vehicles must reflect the actual conditions of use. We should forbid depictions of professional drivers on closed courses designed to sell family sedans or sport utility vehicles.
2. We should forbid the depiction of fantasies depicting drivers dominating their surroundings.
3. We should require depictions of traffic to reflect the realities of urban traffic. We should not allow car commercials and promotions to depict cars moving freely down the streets of major cities, or drivers parking right outside their destinations.
4. Just as we require pharmaceutical companies to include a hurried recitation of the side effects of their drugs, we should require automobile advertising to include a summary of the real costs of owning and operating a car. If the car's selling point is its low cost, lack of maintenance problems, and low gas consumption, then the cost summary provided can reflect that, but it must still include average insurance, parking, and fuel costs. Manufacturers and their advertisers should have to justify their given cost summaries, particularly if they differ significantly from the assessments of neutral parties such as consumer groups. All motor vehicle advertising should be required to provide this information in terms of working hours for an average wage earner: a statement such as "an average Canadian worker will have to spend sixty full days of work each year to own (or lease) and operate this vehicle."
   

This list only addresses the basic economic and practical aspects of motor vehicle operation; these are aspects, and costs, of motor vehicle use that affect almost all drivers. While I consider the environmental and human costs of motor vehicles more important than the economic costs, requiring motor vehicle advertisers would prove both difficult and highly controversial.

Still, an advertising code for motor vehicles would bring the expectations of drivers down to reality, and might well reduce the frustrations created by the visible difference between the fantasies of professional drivers on closed courses, and the realities of urban driving.