ASA Adjudication on Peugeot Motor Company plc

Ad

A national press ad, for the Peugeot 308 HDi, included text that stated “TAYLOR COUPLE A.k.a.: FUEL FUGITIVES Their record: 126 MPG. FUEL STRETCHING WORLD RECORD* M.O.: DRIVING AROUND NEVER STOPPING FOR FUEL. Text below a picture of a car, which had the text “126 MPG” on the side and bonnet, stated “THE GETAWAY VEHICLE. The new Peugeot 308 HDi with improved fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions”. Small print stated “The Official Fuel Consumption Figures in mpg (l/100km) … for the 308 Range are: Urban 24.8-49.5 (11.4-5.7), Extra Urban 47.1-74.3 (6.0-3.8), Combined 35.8-62.8 (7.9-4.5) … *World record an average 126 MPG over 3,700 miles is a Guinness World Record and is not subject to any other official body’s test conditions”.

Issue

Two complainants challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that the average consumer would be able to achieve 126 mpg in the car.

CAP Code

Response

Peugeot Motor Company Plc (Peugeot) said the couple in the ad travelled a total of 3700.1 miles and used 29.175 gallons of fuel in a Peugeot 308 HDi; the average fuel consumption was 126.82 miles per gallon.  They said the information in the ad was accurate and sent documents related to the world record attempt, for which the car was not modified in any way.  The model in which the world record was achieved was on general sale and a website was available that explained how the record was achieved as well as giving advice on how to improve fuel consumption.

They said the ad clearly stated that the world record had not been approved by an official body other than Guinness World Records and it included official fuel consumption figures; while they were lower than the 126 mpg record, they referred to the average mpg across the range and were figures that were easily achievable under normal driving conditions.  The couple in the ad achieved the record in a standard 308 on normal roads but did drive in a way that would maximise the mpg used.  The ad was a celebration of their achievements and highlighted what could be achieved but also explicitly displayed what could realistically be expected.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the couple shown had achieved a world record for fuel consumption in a Peugeot 308. We considered, however, that the light hearted lay-out of the ad meant the overall impression was such that it did not make clear that the 126 mpg figure related to a genuine world record and therefore readers were likely to understand from the ad that the figure, or a very similar figure, could be achieved under normal driving conditions.  We noted that the official average fuel consumption figures for the range, stated in the small print, were generally less than half of the fuel consumption achieved by the couple; we considered that those figures contradicted rather than clarified the headline claim, and text on the image of the car, "126 MPG".  We also considered the small print "*World record an average 126 MPG over 3,700 miles is a Guinness World Record ... " did not go far enough to remove the impression that the average consumer could typically achieve 126 mpg.  We considered the ad did not make sufficiently clear that 126 mpg was achievable only by driving in a way that would maximise fuel consumption and was not representative of typical consumers experience under normal driving conditions.  We concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.  We told Peugeot not to imply in future that fuel consumption figures that were not achieved in normal driving conditions could be achieved by the average consumer.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)