Royalty for Land Rover

by Rebecca Carter December 12, 2006
Categories: Transport.

Zara Philips for Land Rover A royal princess in a Land Rover ad? That’s right, Zara Philips, eldest granddaughter of the Queen, is in a mud stained evening gown for Land Rover. This ad made her the highest ranking royal family member in the advertising world.

She didn’t actually receive any money for the ad. Zara is an equestrian (and world champ in eventing), and Land Rover is one of her 3 main sponsors that helps maintain her horses.

I don’t like it because I don’t think we need famous faces representing gas guzzlers. FYI, Mary McCartney, daughter of Paul, took the pics.

Via – Adpunch, The Times

About Rebecca Carter

Rebecca Carter is the Co-Founder of Ecorazzi. Rebecca was recently featured in the book Hot, Rich, and Green. She is one of 70 eco-achievers featured in Glamour magazine in April 2009, named Best of Green 2010 by Miami Magazine and Best Environmentalist by Miami New Times Best of 2008. She's raising a couple of little boys in Miami and speaks English & Spanish. Find out more at www.RebeccaCarter.net. Follow Rebecca on Twitter: @rebeccacarter

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Preston

The Rover brand has been inter-connected with royalty for a long time. Before it came to the US, about 6 out of 10 vehicles were sold to military customers (police, firefighters, military) and many Land Rovers were sent to Third World countries where the vehicle’s functional utility was of enormous value.

Due to its high quality, the Range was awarded Four Royal Warrants by individual members of the Royal Family and was put on display in the Louvre. That’s just in the 90s. It’s not green, but how many cars are really?
http://www.sustainablesean.com Sustainable Sean

Well built should count for something. I’ve been in a few Rovers in my conservation biology work and am always amazed at how well they stand up to horrible conditions. Rovers, trucks, etc. are ok in my book as long as there is a functional reason to have/use them…say on a farm, ranch, for fieldwork, etc. Having done lots of horse stuff (pentathlon, polo and such) I can support such vehicles for the right functional reason. Taking a shiny new one to dinner in the city…not so fond of that. Almost as bad as wearing fur to the opera in Dallas in the middle of summer. I guess I’m saying that when done correctly and for the right reasons, ‘right-sizing’ can be done without shame. Finally, I kind of like the ad…shows she has more of an interest in being out in the elements than in a gown.
http://www.ecorazzi.com michael

I can see both points of view with this one. I agree that the Land Rover is one of the better made vehicles on the road — when I was in New Zealand, a guy I knew was still parading around the back roads in one from 1970 with something like 400,000 miles on it. Pretty incredible.

That being said, it would be cool to see Land Rover throw their weight behind some flex-fuel vehicles or a hybrid. Supposedly, they’re working on something for the 2008 Discovery and really, it’s only a matter of time before all major automakers have some kind of green representation is their lineup.