Ryanair slapped down over ‘misleading’ green claims
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The U.K. advertising watchdog on Wednesday censured a Ryanair ad campaign that claimed the Irish carrier is Europe’s “lowest emissions airline,” arguing it was “misleading.”
Ryanair — famous for its bold campaigns — was the only airline to appear in a ranking of European polluters by environmental campaigners in December, despite ongoing efforts to brand itself a leader in the aviation industry’s effort to cut pollution.
The Advertising Standards Authority investigated ads presenting Ryanair as Europe’s “low fare, low CO2 emissions airline,” which ran in print, on TV and on the radio in September, following complaints the airline couldn’t back up its claim.
According to green lobby Transport & Environment, Ryanair was responsible for 9.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2018 — putting it just behind Boxberg power station in Germany and the Mediterranean Shipping Company in the top 10 of the bloc’s biggest polluters.
But the airline calculated its CO2 emissions on the basis of emissions per passenger-kilometer, putting factors such as a high number of direct flights, more seats per plane and high fill rate to its advantage.
The ASA said that while the advertisement wouldn’t make consumers think flying wouldn’t add to their carbon footprint, the company should have made clear its claim was based on factors including the extra seats on a Ryanair plane.
The press advertisement that stated that Ryanair “has the lowest carbon emissions of any major airline” failed to make clear the comparison hadn’t been market-wide.
Ryanair said it used data from Eurocontrol and Brighter Planet to substantiate its claims. However, the ASA said the airline hadn’t explained how a Eurocontrol chart that ranked it first on traffic but fifth on CO2 emissions out of 27 airlines had translated into Ryanair being the most efficient, and that a 2011 Brighter Planet ranking that put Ryanair in pole position on efficiency was “of little value” for a comparison in 2019.
