The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has ruled that a paid-for Ford advert which featured the words “New All-Electric Explorer — redefining adventure. The ultimate all-electric SUV is here” was not misleading.
It comes as part of the regulator’s wider work on “zero emissions claims”, which saw it ban two adverts from BMW and MG Motors, declaring that the term zero emissions should only be made in relation to the vehicle while being driven because of emissions in the charging process.
However, Ford explained that its advert explicitly used the term “driving”, and therefore argued that it was not stating that the All-Electric Explorer was a zero-emissions vehicle.
It also added that context including text which read “Find out more and discover the range of features. Zero-emissions driving. Fast charging. Driver assistance tech” clearly pinpointed to audiences where they could find more information and that charging was another element of using the vehicle.
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The ASA accepted that despite its previous rulings about the term zero emissions, the Ford advert was not misleading because it provided ample context and could not be deemed to be making an absolute declaration about “zero emissions”.
The regulator investigated the advert as part of its Active Ad Monitoring system, which sees it use AI in order to proactively search for adverts that break the rules. The system is notably being leveraged to tackle greenwashing.
Last November, the ASA acted on complaints from group Adfree Cities to ban two of Toyota’s “Born to Roam” SUV adverts, arguing that they disregarded the environmental impact of the vehicles by displaying them in nature.
