Some of you guys are just unbelievable...
1. You get to watch nice looking Toyotas complete an overland journey
2. These guys cleared and mapped the trail for
future users
3. They recorded their adventure and posted their content online, which will raise awareness of overlanding, the MacKenzie trail, Toyota capabilities, etc.
4. Whether you like the commentary or not, they still completed the trail, which was clearly no small feat.
So what if there is product placement and marketing along the way. That's the way the world works. If you want to take a journey like this, you need many/all of the products they used. So, you can either partner with vendors to sponsor parts of your trip or pay for everything yourself. If taking sponsorships is the difference between going on the journey or sitting at home, I say take the money.
The tenor of the commentary actually reminded me of Les Stroud (aka Survivorman). At times, it may have seemed dramatic to some, but I am certain the folks on the trail are in a different frame of mind than all you Monday morning quarterbacks sitting in the comfort of your living room or office.
I agree that the wasted gas from idling and shortage of chainsaw chains could have been avoided. In reality, that is a good way to illustrate the importance of pre-planning to people who are new to overlanding and researching the topic.
In all, I'd rather watch their videos than a majority of the other BS content online. So, if I'm subjected to marketing (for products that I'm interested in anyway) and narrator commentary along the way, so be it...