Toyota Celebrates Earth Day by Harnessing the Power of Marketing Manure

Most brands shy away from having their brands associated with manure, but for Earth Day, Toyota is betting on cow dung to power its fuel-efficient Mirai. 

Toyota partnered with Droga5 and influential director Morgan Spurlock, of Supersize Me fame, to create “Fueled by Bulls**t,” which launched on YouTube. The video follows Spurlock and a dairy farmer to demonstrate the process of taking manure from the cow to hydrogen fuel to the gas tank. The result is better for the environment and cheaper at the pump. 

Toyota aimed to both create controversy and raise awareness with the risque titles of the videos. “This project gave us the opportunity to dive into a world that most people don’t understand but has the potential to change our world,” Spurlock said in a prepared statement. “Witnessing manure, something most of us view as being pretty disposable, being transformed into hydrogen fuel to power a car was pretty remarkable. I think this short film is pretty compelling evidence of what could be possible in the years ahead.”

“Fueled by Bulls**t” is the first in a series of videos called “Fueled by Everything.”