The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK's advertising regulator, has banned adverts from car manufacturers BMW and MG. These ads were prohibited due to their misleading representation of the vehicles as having ‘zero emissions’. The ASA pinpointed that these claims did not consider emissions produced during the manufacturing phase or when charging the cars, depending on the source of electricity.
BMW and MG ran these adverts on Google around last August. BMW's advert claimed "Zero Emissions Cars - Download Your Brochure Today," while MG advertised its electric cars simply as "Zero Emissions". The ASA found both claims to be misleading. They required clarification that the term 'zero emissions' referred solely to emissions during driving.
Toby King, a spokesman for the ASA, explained the decision. "While we accepted this was true when driving, we determined this was misleading as they still produced emissions when manufactured or, depending on electrical source, when charging. We’ve therefore banned these ads and told BMW and MG to ensure they don’t make similar claims without robust evidence in future."
In response, both BMW and MG have agreed to comply with the ASA’s ruling.
Source: Auto Express
