Renault is having to withdraw an advertisement in the UK because of misleading environmental claims.
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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the press advertisement showing leaves coming from the exhaust pipe of the Twingo “exaggerated the environmental benefits of the Twingo and was therefore likely to mislead”.
The ad had ‘eco-nomical eco-logical’ written on one of the leaves coming out of the exhaust, to which the ASA objected because the terms were not fully explained.
The ASA also noted that the Twingo was in band C of the vehicle excise duty rankings for emissions and did not feature in the Department for Transport’s selection of top 10 low-CO2 cars.
Renault said it had not intended to suggest that their cars were good for the environment but instead merely to highlight that the vehicle shown in the ad qualified for the automaker’s CO2 programme (called Eco2).
Renault agreed to withdraw the advertisement and said it would ensure that all ads which contained references to the “Eco2” while “eco-nomical, eco-logical” logos would include information to direct the reader to a company website where further information on the Eco2 scheme could be found.
