The Cambridge dictionary defines greenwashing as follows: behaviour or activities that make people believe that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is.
You can’t visit the local supermarket, pick up the paper or explore the world wide web for too long before being bombarded with symbols or catchphrases that include eco, sustainable, carbon neutral etc…
From the beginning of this year, the CMA set out an agenda to review misleading green claims across many different sectors that include transport. This is all rather timely as we venture out and start exploring once again after shedding our lockdown shackles…
Have you seen any examples of airlines supercharging the sustainability of their travel practices??
If so, I’d love to hear more.
Indeed, if you have, it certainly won’t be the first time and as a result the aviation sector is very much on the CMA’s radar…
With competition in this airspace being rife, marketing teams will be eager to promote their green credentials to win more customers…
Ryanair came up with a corker ad back in 2020 with “Europe’s lowest fares, lowest emissions”. The ASA moved swiftly in to ban the ad after receiving several consumer complaints.
KLM is another example of an airline’s over enthusiastic marketing team chartering itself into dangerous airspace by making claims to its customers that they can have minimal impact on the climate by paying extra fees which do towards reforestation projects adding ‘Be a hero, fly CO2 zero”
To make such claims you need to be able to validate it, unfortunately the companies mentioned fell at the ‘check in desk’.
So remember avoid regaling your audience with unsubstantiated buzz words that could lead to some much unwanted publicity or in some cases regulatory intervention.
DSL Consulting is adept at either providing sound advice to regulatory teams (whether that being via auditing or training) or being used as positive source of ammunition to help pacify a marketing team or both! DM me for more details…
