Over the last 20 years, Toyota has successfully maintained its eco-brand image in the Japanese market as shown in the Nikkei BP ESG (Environmental Social Governance) Brand Survey conducted by Nikkei Business Publication. The Nikkei BP ESG Brand Survey mainly focuses on consumer perceptions regarding company image.

Therefore, the survey suggests that Toyota has been striving to not only implement environmental production and system management but has also been working very hard towards communicating such efforts to the public. This talk explores how Toyota represents its hybrid or ecological cars in a
series of environmental campaigns in Japan for the last 25 years. The objective of the study is to layout an environmental car campaign development that eventually leads to the introduction of hydrogen society concept. The campaigns consist of printed advertisements, television commercials, and brochures from 1990s to 2020s.

The themes of the content analysis consist of communication objectives, process cycles, benefits, identification, credentials, scientific figures, and endorsements. These themes were developed based on the triangulations of corporate, marketing and environmental communication approach. It can be concluded that Toyota may have successfully showcased themselves as an eco-friendly manufacturer and it do not only adhere to the current or established notion of environmentally friendly car, but the campaigns demonstrate how Toyota is leading the public to its own definition and perspective of ecofriendliness.

In other words, Toyota is demonstrating an inclination to lead the environmental platform and exerting effort to redefine the low carbon society as a hydrogen society. The hydrogen society notion not only exudes ecological concern but demonstrates the country’s energy security inclination as well.