Advertisements from BMW and MG for “zero-emission” cars have been rejected by the British advertising authority. New rules are being applied in the United Kingdom, which may inspire other countries to also change their practices.
The term “zero emissions” was authorized in English advertisements, as everywhere in Europe, to describe cars which had no tailpipe emissions. However, the advertising regulatory authority in the United Kingdom has just changed the rules in this area, as reported by The Telegraph on February 8, 2024.
Car manufacturers must now take into account the CO2 used for manufacturing and recharging vehicles. Suffice it to say that no car manufacturer can use this term anymore, unless it systematically specifies that “zero emissions” only concerns the vehicle’s circulation phases.
A somewhat ludicrous situation
The British government is among those pushing for the adoption of electric cars. In 2023, sales of these models increased by 17.8% to reach just under 315,000 100% electric vehicles. The country hopes to reach 80% of electric cars in manufacturers’ sales by 2030. Obviously, the decision of the advertising regulatory authority (Advertising Standards Authority or ASA) somewhat thwarts the plans of the British government, which itself widely uses the term “zero emissions” in its official communication.
The Advertising Standards Authority appears to have embarked on a drastic crackdown on greenwashing. Car manufacturers are not the only ones to suffer this turn of the screw from the authority of advertising. A few months earlier, advertisements from oil groups and airlines were accused of misleading environmental claims. Even London Transport received a slap on the wrist for broadcasting a radio message that “ an allegation could mislead auditors ”, according to the ASA decision.
All this fuss over Google ads
The irony is that one could have imagined that such hype would concern widely distributed TV advertisements or billboards. This is not the case, MG and BMW have been reprimanded for targeted Google advertisements.
Certainly, AdWords are advertising formats like any other in which certain misleading statements cannot be used. However, asking brands to specify in this advertising format – extremely limited in number of characters – to mention that zero emissions only concerns vehicle circulation simply makes no sense.
All this will still allow the British advertising authority to generalize this new rule to all advertising media. There is no doubt that this should inspire other countries which want to limit the promotion of cars in advertising (like France) or simply put obstacles in the way of electric cars.
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