Consumer Agency to clamp down on “vague” environmental claims in car advertising
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The Finnish Consumer Agency is drawing up guidelines for the use of environmental claims in the marketing of cars. The aim is to keep customers from getting too rosy a picture about the impact that a car has on the environment.
The car trade has indicated a willingness to cooperate on the matter. The Finnish Central Organisation for Motor Trades and Repairs and the Finnish Consumer Agency signed a set of guidelines in Helsinki on Monday.
Director Anja Peltonen of the Finnish Consumer Agency said that vague claims of environmental benefits are not a problem for the car sales business alone.
Peltonen emphasised that no product that is manufactured industrially is environmentally friendly, and that cars should not be marketed as such.
“The manufacture of a car always places a burden on the environment, and so does driving it”, Peltonen pointed out.
If there are any violations of the guidelines that were set, the Consumer Agency will take up the matter with the advertiser, and if there is no improvement, the matter can be brought before the Market Court. The car business promised to monitor the situation itself.
Under the guidelines that were agreed upon, only cars of the same size class can be compared with each other in environmental impact, and any claims that are made should be verifiable.
Words that are used in advertising should be easy for ordinary car buyers to understand, and ambiguous expressions should be avoided.
The impression should not be created that by buying a certain model of a car, a person would be doing his or her part in slowing climate change.
Car advertisements should not make vague claims such as “drive a green car, with a good conscience”, or “no matter what colour you choose, our cars are always green”.
A car should also not be promoted as having “low carbon dioxide emissions” if the emission levels are no lower than with other equivalent models.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 15.9.2009 - TODAY |
 Consumer Agency to clamp down on “vague” environmental claims in car advertising |
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