‘Misleading’ Shell adverts about low-carbon products banned
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Three adverts for Shell that publicise its climate-friendly products have been banned for glossing over its “large scale” investments in oil and gas.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the ads created the impression that a “significant proportion of Shell’s business” comprised “low carbon energy products”.
The company misleadingly “omitted” information that oil and gas made up the “vast majority” of its operations, the ASA said.
Shell said it strongly disagreed with the watchdog’s decision and claimed the finding could slow the UK’s move towards renewable energy.
The three adverts in question showcased the renewable power that Shell provides and its clean energy services, including electric vehicle charging.
A TV ad from last June stated 1.4 million households in the UK used 100% renewable electricity from Shell. It 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.”
Shell UK said it wanted the ads to raise consumer awareness about its range of energy products that were better for the environment than fossil fuels, and increase demand for them.
It cited research suggesting that 83% of consumers primarily associated the brand with the sale of petrol, arguing they would be “unlikely to assume that the ads’ content covered the full range of its business activities”.
In 2022, Shell spent 17% (£3.5bn) of its total capital expenditure (£20bn) on “low-carbon energy solutions”, which include renewable wind and solar power as well as things like electric vehicle charging, biofuels, carbon credits and hydrogen filling stations.
Why the ASA upheld the complaint
The ASA acknowledged that many people would associate Shell with petrol sales, as well as oil and gas production.
It said they would also be aware that many companies in carbon-intensive industries, including the oil and gas sector, aimed to dramatically reduce their emissions in response to the climate crisis.
Burning coal, oil and gas is the biggest driver of climate change, responsible for 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The ASA said: “We understood that large-scale oil and gas investment and extraction comprised the vast majority of the company’s business model in 2022 and would continue to do so in the near future.
“We therefore considered that, because (the ads) gave the overall impression that a significant proportion of Shell’s business comprised lower-carbon energy products, further information about the proportion of Shell’s overall business model that comprised lower-carbon energy products was material information that should have been included.
“Because the ads did not include such information, we concluded that they omitted material information and were likely to mislead.”
It ruled that the ads must not appear again.
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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.”
Shell claimed that many people do not know about its investment in more eco-friendly options, such as its vast public networks of EV charge-points.
It added: “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.”
Veronica Wignall, from activist network Adfree Cities, which raised the complaint with the ASA, 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.”
Fossil fuel companies should be banned from advertising at all given their role in the climate crisis, she added.
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