Airline adverts banned in the UK over greenwashing

Three airlines, Air France, Lufthansa and Etihad Airways, have had adverts banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over misleading environmental claims.

The ASA said that in all three cases it challenged whether the advert gave a misleading impression of the advertiser’s environmental impact, and that absolute environmental claims must be supported by a high level of substantiation.

In the case of Etihad Airways, it used the phrase “Environmental Advocacy”. The ASA considered that the claims that Etihad allowed consumers to explore the world with “Total Peace Of Mind”, alongside the phrase “Environmental Advocacy”, would be understood by consumers to mean that Etihad actively worked to protect the environment and, consequently, consumers could use its services with “Total Peace Of Mind” with regard to the environmental impact of doing so.

“We therefore expected to see a high level of evidence, which showed how it offered consumers total peace of mind about the environmental impact of using its service,” said the ASA. Etihad Airways immediately removed all references to “Environmental advocacy” from its paid-for Google search ads being delivered in the UK.

Lufthansa’s advert included the phrase “Fly more sustainably”. The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claim that people could “Fly more sustainably” with Lufthansa to mean that it offered a way to travel by air that had a lower environmental impact than alternative airlines. ASA said the ad did not clarify how the claim “Fly more sustainably” worked in practice, and the basis of the claim was likely to be material information that consumers would need in order to make an informed decision.

Lufthansa said that it had instructed their agency to remove “Fly more sustainably” from its Google Callouts going forward.

Air France’s advert said “Air France is committed to protecting the environment: travel better and sustainably”. The ASA considered that the claim would be understood by consumers to mean that Air France offered a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to travel by air. “We therefore expected to see a high level of evidence that demonstrated how Air France was protecting the environment and making aviation sustainable,” said the ASA.