ASA Adjudication on Citroen UK Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for the Citroen C4 car stated "The Citroen C4 can transform the impact on your wallet and the environment. With only 120g CO2 per kilometre, it's the lowest in its class." On-screen text during the ad stated "Applies to C41.6 HDI EGS". In the final screen shot, text stated "A low CO2 producer".

Issue

1. Two viewers challenged the claim that the Citroen C4 was the lowest CO2 producer "in its class" at 120 g CO2/km. One said he believed the Toyota Prius to be a car of similar size and type (a small family car) and understood that it had a lower emissions figure of 104 g CO2/km. Another said he understood the Renault Megane Hatchback and the BMW1 to be in the same car "class" and believed their emissions were lower at 117 g and 119 g CO2 per kilometre respectively.

2. Another viewer objected that the ad gave the impression that the Citroen C4 was more environmentally friendly than it was.

BCAP TV Code

Response

1. The advertising agency Euro RSCG replied on behalf of Citroen. They said that in order to determine class in a meaningful and valid way, it was essential to include not only size but also gearbox type and fuel type. They said the Citroen C4 was an automatic diesel car. They said, although the Toyota Prius was of a similar size to the Citroen C4 and was listed as having a 104 g/km CO2 emission rate compared to 120 g/km for the Citroen C4, it could not be considered to be of the same type of car (and therefore in the same "class" as the C4) because, unlike the Citroen C4, the Toyota Prius was a non-automatic hybrid fuelled car.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) said they were confident the claim was valid. They said they understood the claim to be true for the C4 1.6 Hi ESG VTR+ and that this model was clearly named on screen during the ad. They said the Department for Transport's (DFT) website ranked cars by class for CO2 emissions. The BACC said, from the information on that site, they were satisfied that the Citroen C4 ranked as the lowest CO2 producer in its class when the parameters "automatic" and "diesel" were selected.

2. Euro RSCG said the ad did not describe the Citroen C4 as "environmentally friendly" but only as "a low CO2 car producer" which could, as a result,  "transform the impact... on the environment" and they were confident that this claim was valid. They believed that the ad did not mislead about the vehicle's impact on the environment because they said that Transport for London had recently proposed to offer an 100% discount on the congestion charge to low CO2 producing cars, which included all cars at 120 g/km and below. They also said that Citroen was a vehicle manufacturer with one of the best records for constructing low CO2 producing cars and cited European Federation for Transport and Environment figures. The BACC agreed with the advertiser on this point.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted the Department for Transport (DFT) website "Act On CO2"  section,  used by both the advertiser and by complainants, stated that they were using the car classification system used by the "What Car?" website. This divided cars into classes such as "supermini", "estate", "family" and "executive". The Citroen C4 was classed as a "small family" car on that site. We noted that, in the "small family" cars category the Citroen C4 ranked fifth for CO2 emissions at 120 g/km, whereas the Toyota Prius ranked first for lowest CO2 emission in this class at 104 g/km and the Renault Megane Hatchback and the BMW1 Series ranked third and fourth respectively at 117 g/km and 119 g/km. We acknowledged that, if the search was refined by gearbox and fuel type, the Citroen C4 did rank lowest for CO2 emissions when compared only with other small automatic diesel family cars.

We acknowledged that Citroen had based the claim on the results of a refined search of the "small family" car category, meaning that they had compared the C4 only with small family cars that had automatic gearboxes and diesel engines. However, we considered that viewers would understand the claim "the lowest in its class" to refer to a comparison with all vehicles in the "small family" car class, not only those vehicles with automatic gearboxes and diesel engines, and considered that the on-screen text "Applies to C41.6 HDI EGS" was not sufficient to avoid this implication. We concluded that the ad could mislead.

On this point, the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Code rules 5.1(Misleading) and 5.2.2 (Implications).

2. Not upheld

The ASA accepted that the ad in question did not refer to the Citroen C4 as "environmentally friendly" but stated that Citroen was a "low CO2 car producer". We noted Transport for London defined low CO2 as 120 g/km and below and the European Federation for Transport and Environment ranked Citroen as one of the best car manufacturers in terms of having achieved target reductions in CO2 emissions in vehicles since 1997.

We noted Citroen was a comparatively low CO2 producer across all classes of car and considered that the ad did not imply the C4 had no impact on the environment or that it was more environmentally friendly than it was.  We concluded that the ad did not mislead on those grounds.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Code rules 5.2.6 (Environmental Claims) 5.1 (Misleading) 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.2.2 (Implications) but did not find it in breach.

Action

The ad should not appear in its current form again.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)