Greg Carrasco says he does not really consider himself an environmentalist — just someone who wants to do some good for the planet by planting a few extra trees.

That’s what the vice-president and general manager of Oakville Nissan and Oakville Infiniti car dealerships set out to do when he recently launched a new sales pitch: for every car sold at the two locations, they would plant 25 trees to help offset the amount of C02 emissions the car generates over four years.

But he was “puzzled” when Facebook and Instagram refused to approve the ad for his campaign for being about “social issues, elections or politics.”

Carrasco, who also hosts a radio auto show on AM 640, thought using social media channels (he has thousands of followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts) to spread the message would help attract customers and ultimately lead to planting more trees.

“Nothing bad can come out of this campaign,” he said, explaining it’s just a car dealership trying to contribute positively to the environment in a way that does not cost anything to anyone.

“If this was a hate message, an activation message or politically charged, then I’d understand because Facebook has been blamed for influencing people’s voting behaviour in different countries. This is not that.”

Carrasco said the two dealerships where he works have previously advertised for various products and initiatives via social media, but had never faced a rejection until this campaign, which they launched in September. He appealed for a review and was turned down again.

He said he believes the ad was not approved because Canada is in the middle of federal election campaign with the environment being one of the central issues for candidates.

“The funny thing is, I’m not an environmentalist and I don’t support any environmentalist parties,” he said, noting he just thought this was a good thing to do.

In a message sent to him explaining the rejection, Facebook cited its ad policies.

“The text and/or imagery you’re using is about social issues, elections or politics, based on the definition we’re using for enforcement,” the message reads in part.

Reached Tuesday for comment, Facebook Canada spokesperson David Troya-Alvarez said the ad from Carrasco’s page was disapproved “in error.”

“We apologize for the mistake and appreciate bringing this to our attention. We have let the Page admin know we are approving their ad,” he wrote in an email to the Star.

He said Facebook wants to bring more transparency and authenticity to advertisers, and is “working to help prevent foreign interference across our platforms.”

Anyone looking to place an ad through Facebook has to adhere to its advertising policies, and each ad has to undergo a review process, he said.

Carrasco vowed to continue spreading the tree-planting message through traditional media such as radio, newspapers and “anyone who will listen.”

He said he has already started planting a small “Carrasco family forest” in Smeaton, Sask. It has close to 1,000 trees, based on car sales since launching the campaign last month, he said. Through the campaign, he’s aiming to sell enough cars to plant 13,000 trees by end of 2019.

Kurt Dettbarn, owner of Design Cellar Media, the advertising agency that helped design the tree-planting campaign graphic, said he was surprised by the ad’s rejection, adding it is unfortunate the word “climate,” which appears at the bottom of the ad, has “become so toxic.”

“We’ve done a lot of car campaigns with a lot of offers and never in a million years did I think that the one about planting trees would be the one rejected.”

Megan Boler, professor in the department of social justice education at the University of Toronto’s OISE, said this case illustrates how noticeable the lines have become between political manipulation or corporate influence and issues of public good and social concern such as climate change.

On one hand, one can see the legal logic these social media platforms are applying to the ad.

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“While most of us feel OK about the dealership planting trees as an incentive to purchase their good, how would we feel if they were proposing to contribute money to anti-immigration organization? Or to legislation against emission standards?” she said.

Of equal concern however, according to Boler, is how privately owned corporate platforms such as Facebook are “becoming the arbiters of public good, law and policy surrounding questions of free speech, political advertising,” she added.

“No one has clean hands any more, given our impossibly situation in corporate culture.”

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