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Etihad Airways’ ‘sustainable aviation’ adverts banned in UK

By Nagasunder in UK Business News, posted April 12, 2023

The UK advertising authority has banned an Etihad Airways advertising campaign about the airline's commitment to "sustainable aviation" on the grounds it misled viewers about how travelling affects the environment.

The national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) aired two Facebook advertisements highlighting its environmental stewardship.

The adverts promoted the airline’s “louder, bolder approach to sustainable aviation”, including pushing the idea that choosing Etihad was a “conscious choice for the planet” and promoting initiatives such as cutting back on single-use plastic cutlery.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), became concerned over the adverts being misleading.

It said they were false by "exaggerating the environmental benefits of flying" with the airline, and launched an investigation into the campaign.

It featured images of plants, the Earth, and text stating that Etihad was the "Environmental airline of the year 2022."

Etihad acknowledged its claim about sustainable aviation would not be perceived as an "absolute solution" but rather that it was a "long-term and multifaceted process" with the goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The airline, which has a comprehensive marketing plan that includes sponsorship of the Manchester City Premier League team and stadium naming rights, claimed its strategy involved developing "sustainable aviation fuel production" in the UAE in addition to restructuring its fleet to employ more modern, fuel-efficient planes.

However, the ASA said that, under UK marketing regulations, absolute environmental claims such as “sustainable aviation” must be backed up by a high level of evidence.

It said: “We noted steps were being taken by Etihad to reduce the environmental impact of its service.”

“[However], we understood that there were currently no initiatives or commercially viable technologies in operation within the aviation industry which would adequately substantiate an absolute green claim such as ‘sustainable aviation’ as we considered consumers would interpret it in this context,” ruled the ASA.

“We concluded, therefore, that the claim exaggerated the impact that flying with Etihad would have on the environment and the ads breached the [advertising] code.”

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Etihad is the second big brand to be caught out by the ASA following a pledge made by the agency in September 2021 to push down on corporations that make unsubstantiated or misleading green claims.

The ASA prohibited an ad campaign by the German airline Lufthansa last month that claimed its green activities were saving the globe.

Last year, the ASA prohibited ad campaigns by corporations such as the alternative milk brand Oatly, the Pepsi-owned tea brand Lipton, and Unilever's Persil detergent for making deceptive environmental or green claims.

In recent years, the ASA has barred Ryanair, HSBC, and the oil corporations Esso and Shell from making climate statements.

Source: The Guardian

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