The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that Air France, Etihad and Lufthansa must stop showing “misleading” adverts promoting the airlines’ environmental impact.
In three separate rulings the ASA said that the adverts in question “must not appear again in the form complained about”.
In the case of Air France the ASA challenged an ad which stated “Manchester to Bangkok […] Air France flights […] Air France is committed to protecting the environment: travel better and sustainably”.
The Authority said that the ad “would be understood by consumers to mean that Air France offered a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to travel by air”, and that it “therefore expected to see a high level of evidence which demonstrated how Air France were protecting the environment and making aviation sustainable”.
In the absence of this evidence the ASA “concluded that the claims gave consumers a misleading impression of the impact that travelling with Air France would have on the environment”.