EU Environment Commissioner calls for action on car advertising
Wed 10 October 2007
View all news
Stavros Dimas, the EU's Environment Commissioner, has called for action to curb road transport CO2 emissions to be stepped up. Speaking in Brussels, Mr Dimas said he is 'very disappointed that manufacturers have not replied so far to the Commission's invitation to sign a code of good practice on sustainable advertising'. One EU member state, however, is already introducing stringent advertising controls.
Mr Dimas said that, arguably, one of the biggest influences over consumer choices is advertising. He said that an advantage of such an initiative would be that it would create a level playing-field for all manufacturers to advertise fuel-efficient cars.
"We need to recognise the legitimate demands of consumers for safer and more efficient cars, and we need to inform them better about fuel consumption and its impact on their wallet.
"It would also counter the alleged lack of consumer interest that the industry blames for low sales of these types of vehicles. Certainly the industry's tendency to glamourise speed and power in its advertisements cannot be doing much to stimulate consumer demand for more efficient alternatives,” Mr Dimas said.
Meanwhile, one of the EU's member states is to unilaterally introduce some of the the world's strictest advertising guidelines.
According to the new rules in Norway, no car can be described as "green," "clean" or "environmentally friendly".
"Cars cannot do anything good for the environment except less damage than others," according to an official at the office of the state-run Consumer Ombudsman, reported by Reuters.
Carmakers such as Toyota, General Motor's Opel, Mitsubishi, Peugeot Citroen, Saab and Suzuki had all used phrases this year in advertisements that the watchdog judged misleading, the official said.
The guidelines distributed to carmakers say: "We ask that ... phrases such as 'environmentally friendly', 'green', 'clean', 'environmental car', 'natural' or similar descriptions not be used in marketing cars." Carmakers risk fines if they fail to drop the words.
Norway's advertising watchdog also argued that mentioning carbon dioxide alone could mislead buyers into believing that the car also had low emissions of toxic nitrous oxide or other polluting particles.
Related Links
< Back to news list