October 29, 2008

UK Ad Watchdog Says 94% Of Green Ads Comply With Regulations

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has released its Environmental Claims Survey 2008, revealing that 94 percent of ads with environmental claims were compliant with the advertising codes.

In May, the ASA said complaints about environmental claims more than doubled year on year with 556 complaints about 408 ads.

But the new survey results suggest there is increased awareness among businesses of the rules around green claims in advertising.

Of the 195 ads assessed across all media, just 12 ads (6%) seemed to breach the advertising codes, all in non-broadcast media.

In August, the ad watchdog ruled that Royal Dutch Shell violated advertising rules by claiming in a newspaper ad that two oil projects in Canada and the U.S. involved sustainable forms of energy.

Last year, Enviromedia Social Marketing launched the EnviroMedia Greenwashing Index. United Steelworkers slammed DuPont last year for engaging in greenwashing.

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