The German airline group Lufthansa was called to order by the British Advertising Authority (ASA) on Wednesday for an advertisement in which it claimed to “protect the future” of the planet, which “gave a misleading impression of the environmental impact” of the company. .
“We believe that consumers are likely to take this statement to mean that Lufthansa has already taken significant mitigation steps to ensure that the net environmental impact of its business is not detrimental,” the ASA says in its decision.
The ad in question shows an airplane in flight seen from the front, the lower half of which is replaced by an image of the earth photographed from space, with a link to a website and the words: “Connecting the world. Protecting its future.” ” According to the ASA, this billboard was visible last June. Air travel “produces high levels of CO2 and other emissions, which contribute substantially to climate change,” according to the ASA, noting that many of the climate initiatives put forward by Lufthansa they will only “pay off in years or decades.”
The German company, which aims to be carbon neutral by 2050 and hopes to halve its CO2 emissions by 2030 (compared to 2019), will now have to “ensure that its future environmental claims are based on a clear foundation and not They give a misleading idea. impression of the “environmental impact” of air travel, the regulator writes. Asked by AFP, Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it was “regretting” that this ad “could give a misleading impression.”
“Awareness on environmental issues”
During the procedure carried out by the ASA, Lufthansa had indicated to the regulator that, from its point of view, advertising could not be understood as “an absolute promise (…) that its services do not cause any harm to the environment” . , but rather it would be seen as a way to “get people to the website to increase their awareness of environmental issues.”
British supermarket giant Tesco is also the subject of proceedings before the Irish competition and consumer protection authorities over claims that some of its tea bags are “biodegradable”. The procedure was initiated by scientists at University College Cork, after a scientific study showed that these bags were intact after being buried for 12 months.
But the conclusions of this study “are misleading” because “the method of decomposition of the bags used in the study does not reflect the advice on the packaging,” Tesco reacted to AFP, specifying that this type of tea bag is a “compostable industrial”. ” and is not suitable for decomposition “in compost bins or on the ground”.
Source: BFM TV
