ASA Adjudication on Renault (UK) Ltd

Ad

A national press ad, for Renault's Twingo Dynamique, was headed "THE COST IS THE ONLY SMALL THING ABOUT IT" and stated "CO2 emissions 135g/km ... eco2". The ad was set against a green background and showed an image of the car with leaves coming out of its exhaust. Text on one of the leaves stated "economical ecological".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the ad, and in particular the claims "ecological" and "eco2", were misleading, because it exaggerated the environmental friendliness of the car.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Renault said not all their cars were advertised using the Eco2 economical / ecological logos; certain criteria had to be met before they would use those logos on their products.  They said those criteria were explained to their customers in a brochure and on their website, which went into detail about what Renault were doing to help minimise the environmental impact of motoring.  They said there were three criteria that had to be met.  Firstly, only vehicles with CO2 emissions of 140 g/km or less, or which were bio-diesel compatible, could qualify.  They pointed out that the ad included a clear reference to the fact that the Twingos CO2 emissions were 135 g/km.  Secondly, they said the vehicle had to be manufactured at factories and plants that were certified to ISO 14001 (an international quality standard for environmental management systems).  Thirdly, the vehicle had to be capable of being 95% recoverable at the end of its life and 5% of the vehicles plastics had to be made of recycled materials.  They said the Twingo Dynamique model in the ad satisfied all three of those requirements.  

Renault said they used the Eco2 logo not only because it was linked to their campaign to help reduce CO2 but because it referred to the combination of the economical and ecological efforts they had made.  They said the word 'economical' related to the vehicle's ability to achieve 49.5 miles to the gallon and also to the vehicles cost.  They pointed out that the main headline also referred to the cost of the vehicle.  They said the word 'ecological' literally meant 'pertaining to the environment'.  They said they had not intended to suggest that their cars were good for the environment but instead merely to highlight that the vehicle shown in the ad qualified for the Renault CO2 programme.  They said the image of the leaves coming out of the exhaust was to highlight that exhaust pipe emissions were generally used in the measurement of CO2.  They said further reference to the official CO2 emissions were contained in the small print of the ad.  Renault said that either individually or taken as a whole the claims within the ad were substantiated with information contained in the ad itself, or which they could make available.    They therefore considered that they had sufficiently qualified their claims to avoid misleading readers and the ad complied with the Code.

Renault said, nevertheless, they would withdraw the ad and it would not be used again in its current form.  They said they would ensure that all ads which contained references to the "Eco2" and "eco-nomical, eco-logical" logos would include information to direct the reader to their website, where further information on the Eco2 scheme could be found.  

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the "Eco2" and "eco-logical" logos, as well as the image of leaves from the exhaust of the car, were intended to highlight that the Twingo met the criteria set out in Renaults Eco2 scheme.  We noted Renault had established three criteria that had to be met under the scheme and that included CO2 emissions of 140 g/km or less.

We noted, however, that the Twingo was in band C of the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rankings for emissions and that it did not feature in the Department for Transports selection of top ten low CO2 cars.  We considered that, without qualification about the nature of the Eco2 scheme and the criteria involved, consumers were likely to understand from the ad that the Twingo caused relatively little harm to the environment and had low emissions compared with other similar cars.  We noted the ad included information about the CO2 emissions of the car but we considered that that was insufficient to justify the overall impression created by the ad, in particular the image of leaves coming out of the exhaust and the "eco-logical" claim.  

Because Renault had not explained the basis of the "Eco2" logo and because the image of leaves coming out of the exhaust and the "eco-logical" claim implied that the car was more environmentally friendly than it was, we concluded that the ad exaggerated the environmental benefits of the Twingo and was therefore likely to mislead.

The ad breached, CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 48.6 (Motoring), 49.1 and 49.2 (Environmental claims).

Action

We welcomed Renault's assurance that they would not repeat the ad in its current form.  We told them not to repeat the 'eco-logical' logo and to ensure that the Eco2 logo was clearly qualified to explain the basis of the scheme.  We advised them to seek guidance from the CAP Copy Advice team for their future advertising.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)