Shell’s Greenwashing Ad Exposed! Any Other Brands Guilty Too?
Introduction
Think ‘ greenwashing ’ scandals could be a thing of the past? Well, think again! Shell’s “greenwashing” and ‘misleading’ ads have just been banned by watchdog.
Greenwashing is where companies make false or misleading statements about their environmental credentials, whether unintentionally or as a deliberate marketing strategy, to make them or their products appear more environmentally-friendly than they really are.
Advertising Standards Authority stated that Shell’s new ad campaign promoting its green initiatives has been banned for not telling consumers that most of its business is based on environmentally damaging fossil fuels such as petrol.
As more and more people start to care about the environmental impact of the things they buy, more brands are jumping on the greenwashing bandwagon. The number of adverts banned for ‘greenwashing’ has tripled over the past year . Here are some notable cases of the Advertising Standards Authority calling out brands for misleading consumers for “greenwashing”.
HSBC
HSBC was flagged by the ASA in October 2022, for a series of ads which promoted the bank’s investment in climate-friendly projects. The ads conveniently didn’t mention the fact that HSBC’s current investments into oil & gas create about 65.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year… The ASA banned this series of ads, and said that in future HSBC cannot exclude information about its contribution to carbon emissions from future ads
Innocent
Innocent are known for their friendly, positive approach – including towards the planet. However, they’re less known for being owned by Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest plastic polluter. In 2021, the ASA banned one of its TV ads, pointed out: the ad was cleverly designed to make people think Innocent are a planet-friendly company, without any proof points to back it up.
Persil
Persil (owned by Unilever) came under fire in August 2022 for a TV ad which claimed that Persil washing liquid is ‘kinder to our planet’. The ASA banned the “deliberately vague” ad in its current form, and told Persil to back up their environmental claims more clearly in future
Oatly
The Oatly greenwashing scandal was all about how the oat milk brand presented carbon emissions data in their ads. The ASA found that Oatly data was either selectively chosen, or presented in a way that could mislead consumers.
Ryanair
The airline purposely used outdated information to claim it was the UK’s lowest emission airline. The statistics it used failed to include many rival airlines and were based on data from 2011.
“Greenwashing” – How to avoid it
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By joining forces with Version28, you can confidently embark on the right track to making a positive difference without the risk of backfire and backlash associated with greenwashing.
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