Background
On 7 April 2025, the Advertising Codes were updated to reflect the revocation and restatement of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (“CPRs” – the legislation from which the majority of the CAP and BCAP rules on misleading advertising derived) by the Unfair Commercial Practices provisions in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (“DMCCA”). On that date, the wording of a number of the rules in the Advertising Codes was changed to reflect relevant changes introduced by the DMCCA on 6 April 2025. Given that the complaint/complaints that formed the subject of this ruling were received before 7 April 2025, the ASA considered the ads and complaint under the wording of the rules that existed prior to 7 April 2025, and the Ruling (and references to rules within it) should therefore be read in line with this wording, available here – CAP Code and BCAP Code.
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Not upheld.
Ad description
Paid-for LinkedIn, Google, and Instagram ads for the energy company Aramco, seen between 22 November 2023 and 5 January 2024:
a. The LinkedIn ad featured an image of a Formula One car with Aramco sponsorship decals. Superimposed text stated, “aramco powered by how” and “how can we drive progress on the track and on the road?”. The ad’s caption stated, “Discover how we're researching ultra-efficient hybrid internal combustion engines and advanced fuels”.
b. The Google ad featured an image of a Formula One car with Aramco sponsorship decals and text that stated, “Aramco – Powered by How. Discover our work in ultra-efficient hybrid internal combustion engines and advanced fuels”.
c. The Instagram ad featured a video of a Formula One car driving on a racing track alongside scenes from within the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Factory and its analysis studio. A voice-over stated, "Answers aren’t always straightforward. Sometimes just getting to one involves a few twists and turns. Maybe that’s why so few of us go down this road; much easier to just stay in our lane, never wondering ‘Why?’, never questioning ‘When?’, never asking ‘How?’. But then if no one asked questions, where would that get us? Our world is driven by questions and the people who ask them, people who know that the harder the question, the more likely we are to arrive at a potentially groundbreaking solution. Questions like how can we develop lighter, more durable components? How can we pioneer fuel that could lower emissions? How can we help with global net zero targets? Sure. There are easier paths to take, simpler questions to answer, but no one ever got anywhere just following everyone else. Introducing the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team.”
Text in the ad’s caption stated, "Announcing the new Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, which will work on improving car performance, on or off the track, to support the advancement of new mobility solutions [racing car emoji] #aramco90th #aramco”.
Issue
The New Weather Institute challenged whether:
- ads (a) – (c) were misleading because they omitted significant information about the overall environmental impact of Aramco’s business activities; and
- the claim “advanced fuels” in ads (a) and (b) was misleading because it did not make the basis of the claim clear.
Response
Aramco Overseas Oil Company BV (Aramco) said ad (a) was last shown on 1 December 2023, ad (b) on 30 November 2023, and ad (c) on 21 January 2024.
Aramco said the ads announced their partnership with the Aston Martin Formula One (F1) team, but were not advertising Aramco, its business activities, or environmental impact. The ads highlighted the formation of the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team and its efforts to improve car performance, explore new technologies, and to demonstrate the potential developments the collaboration could bring to F1 as a sport. They asked several broad, unanswered thematic questions that highlighted the innovative spirit of the partnership.
Aramco said the ads did not make environmental claims or commitments about any products or services. They highlighted that Aramco did not sell consumable products or services directly to UK consumers, who were unlikely to interpret the ads as presenting a view of the wider Aramco business that was distinct and independent from the partnership. Resultingly, they did not consider that information about Aramco’s environmental impact was necessary for readers to engage fully with the ads.
Assessment
1. Not upheld
The CAP Code stated unqualified environmental claims could mislead if they omitted significant information.
The ads were focused on the Aramco Aston Martin F1 partnership and the research and impact it could have. The ASA acknowledged, per a page of Aramco’s website, linked to from ads (a) and (b), that the partnership aimed, in part, to have a positive environmental impact. We considered the ads within that context.
We first assessed ad (a). The ad’s caption stated, “Discover how we’re researching ultra-efficient hybrid internal combustion engines and advanced fuels” and text superimposed over an image of an F1 car with Aramco sponsorship decals stated, “how can we drive progress on the track and on the road”.
We considered consumers were likely to interpret the ad as focused on Aramco’s partnership with F1. They would understand the claim “progress on the track and on the road” that the F1 cars Aston Martin were driving, via research by Aramco into “ultra-efficient hybrid internal combustion engines and advanced fuels”, could eventually impact both F1 and road cars. Those claims referred to new technologies, such as improved methods of combustion, that could improve the performance of F1 and road cars. Although there could be an environmental benefit to such activities, there was nothing in the ad that referred to that.
We next assessed ad (b). We considered consumers would understand the claim “Aramco – Powered by How. Discover our work in ultra-efficient hybrid internal combustion engines and advanced fuels” alongside the image of an F1 car with Aramco sponsorship as meaning Aramco had entered into a partnership with the Aston Martin F1 team in order to develop new technologies, such as improved methods of combustion, that could improve the performance of the cars. While there could be an environmental benefit to such efforts, there was nothing in the ad that referred to that.
We then assessed ad (c), which focused on Aramco’s partnership with the Aston Martin F1 team. The ad’s caption stated, “improving car performance, on or off the track, to support the advancement of new mobility solutions [racing car emoji] #aramco90th #aramco”. The embedded video featured a voice-over that outlined the necessity and difficulty of asking questions when attempting to develop innovative solutions while also featuring imagery of the Aston Martin F1 car driving on a track, through their factory, and scenes from within their data analysis centre. We considered consumers would interpret the ad, its video and caption, as framing the partnership as a bold and innovative one that was focused on producing developments that could improve the performance of road cars and Aston Martin’s F1 car.
The questions posed by the voice-over included, “How can we pioneer fuel that could lower emissions? How can we help with global net zero targets?” We considered those questions, and their potential answers, had an environmental element to them. However, within the overall context of the ad, including the video and caption, which was predominately focused on how the partnership between Aston Martin and Aramco would improve the performance of the former’s F1 car, we considered the questions, and the referenced environmental targets, were an incidental part of the ad and were unlikely to be interpreted as indicative of Aramco’s own current overall business activities across higher and lower carbon forms of energy production. Instead, they represented forward-looking questions about its ambition and potential future business activities.
We therefore concluded that ad (c) had not omitted material information about Aramco’s environmental impact and was unlikely to mislead.
On that point we investigated the ads under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), and 11.1 (Environmental claims) but did not find them in breach.
2. Not upheld
Ad (a) was a LinkedIn post that included a caption that stated, “Discover how we’re researching […] advanced fuels” and the post’s image depicted an Aston Martin F1 car with Aramco decals, superimposed text stated, “how can we drive progress on the track and on the road”. In line with our assessment in point 1, we considered the ad would be understood as focused on the Aramco Aston Martin F1 partnership, and that they were conducting research that could develop new technologies, such as “advanced fuels”, to improve the performance of F1 and road cars.
Ad (b) was a Google ad that depicted an F1 car with Aramco decals and featured text that stated, “Aramco – Powered by How. Discover our work in ultra-efficient hybrid internal combustion engines and advanced fuels”. We considered consumers would interpret ad (b) as meaning Aramco was in partnership with Aston Martin to develop new technologies, such as “advanced fuels” that could improve the performance of F1 cars.
The ads linked through to a page on Aramco’s website that outlined the nature of the fuels in more detail. However, in the absence of any environmental reference within the ads, and given the references to “performance”, the “advanced fuels” claim in the context in which it appeared was likely to be understood as relative to performance rather than environmental matters. Because the ad did not include an environmental claim, it was not a requirement for further information to have been included to make clear the meaning of “advanced fuels” in ads (a) or (b).
On that point we investigated ads (a) and (b) under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), and 11.2 (Environmental claims), but did not find them in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
