An advert marketing campaign with the aid of using Etihad Airways trumpeting its technique to “sustainable aviation” has been banned with the aid of using the UK’s marketing and marketing watchdog, which dominated that it changed into deceptive clients approximately the environmental effect of flying.
The national carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has an extensive marketing strategy that includes sponsorship of the Manchester City Premier League team with stadium naming rights, ran two Facebook ads to promote its green credentials.
Recognizing the impact of flying on the environment, the ads promote the airline’s “stronger, bolder vision for sustainable aviation”, including pushing the idea that choosing Etihad is a “conscious choice for the planet” and promoting initiatives such as reducing single-.
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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has launched an investigation into the campaign – which used images of plants, and the earth and referred to Etihad as “the greenest airline of 2022” – with the airline saying its claims “exaggerate the environmental benefits of flying” are misleading.
Etihad said its claim on sustainable aviation would not be seen as an “absolute solution” to the environmental impact of flying, but understood it was a “long-term and multi-faceted process” with the aspiration of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The airline said its approach included restructuring its fleet to use modern, fuel-efficient aircraft and developing “sustainable aviation fuel generation” in the UAE.
However, the ASA said that, below UK advertising and marketing regulations, complete environmental claims such as “sustainable aviation” have to be subsidized through an excessive degree of evidence.
“We have noted that Etihad is taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of its services,” the ASA said.
“[However], we realize that there is currently no initiative or commercially viable technology within the aviation industry that would adequately substantiate an absolute green claim such as ‘sustainable aviation’ as we consider that consumers would interpret it in this context,” ASA said in the judgment.
We, therefore, conclude that the claim exaggerated the impact that flying with Etihad would have on the environment and that the advertisements breached the Code.”
Etihad is the ultra-modern most important logo to be referred to as out via way of means of the ASA after committing to crack down on unsubstantiated or misleading green claims by watchdog bodies in September 2021.
Last month, the ASA banned an advertising campaign by German airline Lufthansa that claimed its green initiatives were saving the world.
Last year, the ASA banned marketing and marketing campaigns primarily based totally on deceptive environmental or inexperienced claims by companies including alt-milk brand Oatly, the Pepsi-owned tea brand Lipton and Unilever’s Persil detergent.
Other brands that have faced ASA sanctions for climate claims in recent years include Ryanair, HSBC, and energy companies Esso and Shell.
