Toyota is hoping to break 200 records with the Prius, and they have nothing to do with gas mileage.
In the latest stunt from the "Prius Projects" ad campaign, a team of record-setting experts will attempt to set as many records as possible in and around a fleet of four Prii -- including the Prius Plug-in Hybrid and Prius V (shown above).
The titles in question, however, aren't fuel consumption records, and they certainly aren't acceleration records. They're esoteric categories only listed at the Universal Record Database (URDB), where the hardest part of setting a new record is coming up with a category that nobody else has thought of first. The folks at Toyota, URDB and ad agency Saatchi LA have either done a frighteningly efficient job, or have far too much time on their hands.
For instance, Toyota has promised us that records attempted during a live, two-day webcast of record-setting attempts may include the most seasonal sweaters worn in a Prius at one time, or the most people wearing prom dresses screaming "Woo!" while hanging out the car's moonroof.
Social media marketing or not, it wouldn't be an ad campaign if the record attempts didn't highlight features of the Prius. For example, the largest mural created during the three hours it takes the Prius Plug-In Hybrid to recharge, the most shadow animals made using the Prius' LED headlamps and the fastest time to unlock the Prius using keyless entry, climb in through the rear, exit through the front door and re-lock the car.
Interested? You can tune in live at the Prius Projects website.
In addition to those we mentioned, here are some other records that, according to Toyota, may or may not be broken:
- Fastest time to trim a small tree/bush into the shape of a dolphin inside a Prius.
- Fastest time to unload a trunk full of broccoli from a Prius, place them in a refrigerator, and then say, "You know… I could go for nachos. You?"
- Longest marching band paraded through the back doors of a Prius.
- Most books read to a backseat full of children in three minutes
- Most dogs dressed as people and people dressed as dogs inside a Prius
- Most dream catchers hung inside a Prius in two minutes. After each dream catcher is hung the hanger must say "groovy."
Photo: Flickr/electrofreeze
