A series of adverts for Luton Rising have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for greenwashing the impact of the airport’s proposed expansion.
It comes after activists reported the adverts – which appeared across the London tube network, on Meta and in political magazine the New Statesman – to the regulator.
The ads stated: ‘If we miss our environmental limits, our expansion will be stopped in its tracks’.
Activists – including members of campaign group Adfree Cities – argued that the ads omitted significant information about the environmental impact of the airport’s proposed expansion.
Speaking about the expansion adverts, Adfree Cities co-director Veronica Wignall said: “Luton Airport’s ‘green growth’ advertising is a house of cards that immediately collapses under scrutiny.”
“Airport expansion is the extreme opposite of ‘green’, and sure enough, Luton has failed to include emissions from flights in its environmental accounting,” she added.
“This level of deception is totally shocking – it’s like advertising cigarettes as healthy.”
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The ASA has upheld the complaint on the basis that the claims were unqualified and could mislead consumers about the environmental effects of the airport’s expansion.
In doing so, it said the adverts made statements about Green Controlled Growth, but did not provide further information about the limits included in those calculations.
It said this could lead people to assume the expansion of Luton Airport would mean cutting greenhouse gases, and that emissions from additional air traffic movement as part of the expansion would be included in that total.
Ultimately, the ASA ruled that the ads breached the CAP code on misleading advertising and environmental claims, and that they should not appear again in their current form.
Wignall also added that the ASA’s ban highlights “how advertising is pushing us in the wrong direction”, adding that: “We need to end greenwashing, stop airport expansion and make sustainable ways of travelling like rail and public transport more affordable.”
In 2023, adverts for airlines Etihad, Lufthansa and AirFrance were also banned by the ASA for failing to substantiate claims about sustainability.
