This Earth Day (April 22), Volkswagen Canada wants people to know that a little air in their tires can make a big impact on the environment. Volkswagen will be presenting a 30-second television ad, featuring a slowly inflating globe. It culminates with the message that “By checking our tire pressure regularly, we could save 24 million litres of gasoline a day.”

The ad is just one part of the Volkswagen’s Worldwide “Think Blue” program, which is based on the notion that environmental protection and automotive progress should go hand-in-hand.

On the engineering front, Volkswagen has introduced a number of innovations to their vehicles under the umbrella of “BlueMotion Technologies”, the goal of which is to cost-effectively reduce CO2 emissions and pollutants. Worldwide, Volkswagen currently has over 40 models with maximum CO2 emissions of 140g per km.

“Think Blue” represents a major marketing effort from Volkswagen’s hed office in Wolfsburg, Germany. The program is new to Canada, but is gaining momentum through touch-screen displays at auto shows, www.vw.ca/thinkblue, and the debut of the 30-second “Globe” spot.

“Globe” is a Canadian effort, developed by Red Urban, one of Volkswagen Canada’s advertising agencies.

“Volkswagen is just as committed to the environment as it is to their customers’ driving experience,” says Christina Yu, Executive Creative Director of Red Urban Canada. “Besides being important to the performance of their vehicle, motorists should know that maintaining correct tire pressure will make a huge dent in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.”