Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Misleading environmental adverts from carmakers BMW and MG and from London’s transport authority have been banned by the UK’s advertising watchdog, in a pair of landmark rulings.
Car adverts from BMW and MG last year claimed their electric vehicles were “zero-emission”, but the Advertising Standards Authority on Wednesday said the models produced carbon emissions during their manufacture, as well as when recharging using electricity generated from fossil fuels.
Its rulings are precedent-setting, meaning any carmaker selling EVs must qualify that “zero-emission” claims only apply to when the vehicle is being driven.
The regulator has launched a crackdown on “greenwashing” in adverts, and has banned some adverts by oil groups and airlines over the past year for misleading environmental claims.
Its ruling comes as carmakers need to increase their sales of EVs in the UK to avoid fines, something hampered by slowing growth in demand for battery-powered cars.
In a separate decision on Wednesday, the ASA upheld complaints against claims mentioned in adverts by the Greater London Authority and Transport for London.
The adverts were released in the run-up to the expansion of the ultra-low emission zone, or Ulez, to cover all of Greater London in August, as mayor Sadiq Khan was battling a backlash from some drivers and politicians.
The ASA did not question the adverts’ claims that London has an air-quality problem, nor that the expansion of the Ulez would reduce air pollution emissions in Greater London.
But it found that in one radio advert broadcast by the GLA, a claim that “one of the most polluting places in London is inside your car” had “not been adequately substantiated” and was “likely to materially mislead” listeners.
In its ads, MG had also marketed a plug-in hybrid model, which features both an internal combustion engine and a battery, as zero-emission, the ASA found.
“Any associated ‘zero-emissions’ claim needed to clarify that it referred to emissions while the vehicle was driven on the electric motor,” the ASA said, of the MG advert. The claim of “zero-emission” should “never” be made for cars that feature petrol or diesel engines, it added. MG said it had removed all mentions of “zero-emissions” from its adverts.
In its response, BMW said it bid on the phrase “zero-emission cars” on Google ads in order to target customers interested in battery models. It claimed that Google, where the advert ran, then included these words in the advert without its knowledge.
BMW was “not aware that facility had been activated for those search results and it was only on receiving the complaint they discovered it”, the ASA said. BMW has turned off the feature on all future adverts on Google, it said.
The ASA also upheld complaints about two out of six issues raised by a series of TfL TV, radio and press adverts.
It found that a claim that nitrogen dioxide emissions had come down by almost a half in central London since the earlier implementation of the Ulez zone had not set out how TfL had calculated the reduction, which was based on a modelled scenario rather than real sampling of air quality.
The regulator also found that TfL had not provided sufficient qualifying information to explain that a claim that “most air pollution-related deaths actually occur in outer London areas” was, again, based on a modelled scenario rather than “actual” deaths.
In a statement, TfL said it was “disappointed” the ASA upheld the three complaints, and insisted its adverts were “based on robust scientific evidence”.
“The ASA did not challenge the science. Its ruling centres around a minor technical point in some ads.”
Read the full article here