Shell has been told an advert that appeared on a huge electronic billboard next to the M32 can’t appear again anywhere in the country, after it was found to have misled people. It was one of three Shell adverts that have been banned in a ruling published today (June 7).
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) told the fossil fuel giant that it must ensure that any future adverts featuring environmental claims did not mislead by ‘exaggerating or omitting material information’ about how much of its business was involved in renewables or low carbon activities. Shell said it "strongly disagreed" with the ASA’s decision, claiming it could slow the UK’s move towards renewable energy.
The ruling, issued by the ASA - the watchdog for all adverts on TV, radio, the internet, print and billboards - came after environmental campaigners in Bristol complained to the authority about a number of ads that appeared around the city last year.
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The adverts appeared on the giant billboards next to the M32, and on digital ad screens on pavements in Bristol and around the country, and were described as ‘greenwashing’ by campaigners. The Bristol versions made the claim that ‘Bristol is Ready for Cleaner Energy’ - and that was one of the adverts now banned by the ASA in an announcement today (Wednesday).
When the adverts appeared, Adblock Bristol complained, saying it gave the impression that much if not most of Shell’s activities were involved in renewable or ‘cleaner energy’. At the time, only a fraction of Shell’s revenue - between one and 1.25 per cent - was spent on green energy in the UK.
In the ruling, the ASA regulator also noted that Shell’s large contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and ongoing investment into fossil fuels was material information that was omitted from the ads. “Fossil fuel firms and other businesses are increasingly using advertising campaigns to highlight the greener - but proportionally smaller - elements of their operations, while omitting or downplaying their environmentally damaging activities such as large-scale fossil fuel extraction,” said a spokesperson for Adblock Bristol.
“We hope that this ruling by the ASA will put a stop to this practice, now that the ASA has officially deemed it to be ‘misleading’. The ruling is expected to set a precedent meaning that Shell and other energy firms will have to disclose their fossil fuel operations in any advertising about cleaner energy provision,” they added.
One of the complaints against Shell’s adverts was not upheld - the ASA decided that Shell had not misled anyone by advertising its renewable energy products. In its defence, Shell said the phrase ‘Bristol is ready for clean energy’ was meant to be nothing more than a forward looking slogan, rather than being any kind of detailed or explicit claim about its business.
But the ASA decided it was misleading. “We acknowledged Shell’s comment that, rather than being an explicit claim about Shell, the claim ‘The UK is READY for cleaner energy’ in ads was intended as a forward-looking statement about the UK-wide demand for less environmentally detrimental energy sources,” said the ASA ruling.
“However, in the context of the claim’s appearance in an ad for Shell, a well-known provider of energy products, we considered that consumers were likely to interpret the claim as being, in part, a claim about Shell’s own products and capacity to deliver low-carbon energy,” they added.
What were the three adverts?
- A poster carrying the Shell logo, seen in Bristol last June, featured large text stating: “Bristol is Ready for Cleaner Energy,” and: “In the South West 78,000 homes use 100% renewable electricity from Shell Energy.”
- A TV ad, also seen last June, said 1.4 million households in the UK used 100% renewable electricity from Shell, and also mentioned that the firm was working on a wind project that could power six million homes and aimed to fit 50,000 electric car chargers nationwide by 2025.
- A video on Shell’s YouTube channel was captioned: “From electric vehicle charging to renewable electricity for your home, Shell is giving customers more low-carbon choices and helping drive the UK’s energy transition. The UK is ready for cleaner energy.”
Veronica Wignall, a campaigner from Adfree Cities who led the complaint, said: “Today’s official ban on Shell’s adverts marks the end of the line for fossil fuel greenwashing in the UK. The world’s biggest polluters will not be permitted to advertise that they are ‘green’ while they build new pipelines, refineries and rigs – but this doesn’t go far enough. Shell and other fossil fuel expanders should not be permitted to advertise at all owing to their historic and ongoing role in wrecking the planet.
“UK-wide protests are exposing the absurdity of expanding oil and gas extraction and rampant profiteering in the face of worsening climate impacts. We need robust legislation to stop fossil fuel advertising - but we also need UK advertising agencies to stop enabling clients like Shell that are not only on the wrong side of history, but a source of growing regulatory and reputational risk,” she added.
Shell's response
A Shell spokesman said: “We strongly disagree with the ASA’s decision, which could slow the UK’s drive towards renewable energy.
“People are already well aware that Shell produces the oil and gas they depend on today. When customers fill up at our petrol stations across the UK, it’s under the instantly recognisable Shell logo.
“But what many people don’t know is we’re also investing heavily in low and zero-carbon energy, including building one of the UK’s largest public networks of EV charge points.
“No energy transition can be successful if people are not aware of the alternatives available to them. That is what our adverts set out to show, and that is why we’re concerned by this short-sighted decision.”
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