Mindgames on Wheels: How advertising sold false promises of safety and superiority with SUVs

Mindgames on wheels looks at the history of how advertising persuaded urban families that they needed the equivalent of two-ton trucks to go shopping, and why that is a problem. In addition to this created demand, we reveal new data on SUV ownership that shows how the reality is far removed from the uses that these large vehicles were originally designed for. Our analysis of the data on new car registrations in the UK for 2019 suggests that rising consumer demand for larger, more polluting SUVs is not primarily driven by buyers’ practical needs.