Last week, BBC2 aired a special edition of Top Gear, in which Jeremy Clarkson and James May drove a vehicle to the “North Pole” against Richard Hammond who was on sledge pulled by huskies.
Now while it was as entertaining as ever with lots of boisterousness as is the norm, there are three specific issues I have with this programme:
1. First up is Jeremy Clarkson’s end comment:
“I’d set out to prove that polar exploration could be easy – but it isn’t. It’s brutal and savage. The fact is though, that two middle-aged men – deeply unfit and mostly drunk – had made it. Thanks entirely to the incredible machine that took us there. They’d said we’d never get to the Pole because of the damage the car has already done to the ice cap.
“Perhaps then that’s what we’ve proved most of all – really – the inconvenient truth is, it doesn’t appear to have even scratched the surface.”
Very witty. But it’s pretty meaningless, and the fact that all the snow and ice they expected to see, was actually there, doesn’t mean that the polar ice-caps aren’t disappearing.
2. The “North Pole”
All the way through the programme, we were led to believe that Clarkson et al were heading to the North Pole. You know, the one visited by Robert Peary and Roald Amundsen (there’s some dispute about whether Peary could have navigated to it). It;s the one the Russians have just tried claiming for themselves. That’s the pole we all think about. It’s also called the Geographic North Pole.
But there is another “pole” – the North Magnetic Pole. This is where the Earth’s magnetic field points vertically downwards. It moves around quite a lot – as much as 15km a year. And it’s quite some way from the Geographic North Pole.
However, the programme didn’t bother with such niceties and just said the guys were driving to the “north pole.”
Well needless to say, they went to the more southerly magnetic pole, because it’s easier to get to. Oh, and they didn’t even get to the magnetic pole, because they went to its position in 1996 which is where Polar Race finishes. They didn’t really mention that there was a race taking place on the same course at the same time either.
I’ve no problem with them travelling across that country (as long as they cleaned up after them), but let’s be honest about what you’re doing guys.
3. Toyota’s Involvement
Top Gear always has to tread a fine-line about commercial sensitivities. Everytime they make a beautifully shot film about a car they like, they’re effectively giving free airtime to that car. As a result, I’m sure every manufacturer is falling over themselves to provide the BBC with their products.
But in this instance, the commercial crossover is deeply worrying. The car that the team used to travel to the “pole” was a specially adapted Toyota Hilux. The backup team also used some Hiluxes, as well as a Toyota Land Cruiser.
Obviously they had to use some branded vehicle to get there. But visit the Toyota website and click on Hilux. Currently you’ll see a Flash animation which starts with the “Arctic Hilux.” This is the specially adapted vehicle the Top Gear team used. Clicking on it takes you to a standalone Toyota website – invinciblehilux.co.uk. This site details how the trip was planned and conceived.
The Hilux used was specially adapted by a company called Arctic Trucks. If you visit their website currently, you’ll also see plenty about the trip.
So essentially, an “expedition” paid for by the BBC is being used in a quite blatantly commercial manner to advertise these two companies’ products.
OK – that’s not something that’s anything to do with the BBC.
But there’s also the small matter of the very commercial Top Gear website. No, not the one on bbc.co.uk – that’s about the TV show. That one is all very nice with a few clips from previous programmes. The site I’m talking about is topgear.com. It has the same logo, but isn’t to do with the TV show. Oh no. It’s the Top Gear magazine’s website. It’s owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, the arm of the BBC that sells CDs, DVDs, and books, and also publishes magazines amongst other things. This website is stuffed full adverts and has loads of content (hate that word), with news, features, games, test reports and so on.
The TV website has very little on the polar challenge. The magazine website has plenty, with features and blogs. It’s pretty clear that this is the site that people are really expected to go to.
Now I’m not accusing anybody of doing anything wrong. I’m sure that all the usual rules about commercialism are being adhered to. It’s just that it makes me very uneasy to see a BBC TV show being used in this manner. And let’s not forget that it was the Toyota Aygo that was featured in a car “football” match last year when a dozen or so cars were driven around as the players. Plenty of damage occurred, and somehow I don’t think that the BBC picked up the bill for all those vehicles.
All in all, a very murky business.