ASA upholds complaint against advert for Citroen 'ultra low' emissions car
Wed 08 August 2007
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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against a national press advertisement for a Citroen C5 VTX which claimed it produced "ultra low 142g CO2/km". The ASA ruled that the advert should not appear again in its current form.
The complainant said that the claim "ultra low" was misleading. Citroen UK Ltd responded saying that the term "ultra-low" was justified when comparing the C5 VTX+ with its major diesel competitors. The company stated that, with a diesel engine, the emissions were lower than petrol equivalents within its class. Citroen also said that the vehicle was the lowest emitting car in its class (large family car sector) in the UK Government's new 'Act on CO2' car rating system. The rating system lists 14 different categories from 'supermini' to 'performance'.
The ASA acknowledged that the car had lower CO2 emissions than other cars with a similar performance. However, they considered that readers were likely to understand the claim "Ultra low 142 CO2 g/km" to mean that the car had low emissions when compared to all cars. Because the comparison with vehicles delivering similar performance was not prominent or linked to the claim the ASA concluded that the claim was misleading.
The ASA ruled that the advertisement should not appear again in its current form.
Previously the ASA has ruled against the presentation of environmental claims in advertisements run by Toyota, Lexus, Volkswagen and Volvo (see associated link).
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