Cruise line HX has been told not to repeat a recent advert that gave a ‘misleading impression of its expeditions’ environment impact’.
The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint about an HX ad in the digital version of a national newspaper on 6 March.
The advert’s headline said: ‘Free flights to Svalbard and more’, with further text saying: “Selected Svalbard cruises with free flights […] Since 1896, we’ve been the leaders in sustainable expeditions.”
A complainant said the claim ‘sustainable expeditions’ gave a misleading impression of the advertised cruises’ environmental impact and asked whether it could be substantiated.
Hurtigruten UK, trading as HX, said the claim would be understood as meaning Hurtigruten’s expedition cruises, excluding flights, were sustainable.
It said the average customer would not think the claim ‘sustainable expeditions’ would include flights and the word ‘expeditions’ would have been interpreted as referring to the cruise component of the trip. The use of a cruise ship image and the text ‘SAIL THIS SUMMER’, ‘Selected Svalbard Cruises’ and ‘comfortable, purpose-built ships’ made it clear the ad was for a cruise company.
HX added it was clear the free flight was included as a time limited offer and added the claim ‘sustainable’ did not mean the cruises had no environmental impact whatsoever, but that its environmental impact was relatively low compared to other cruise lines and it aimed to make a minimal impact on nature.
The ASA acknowledged that customers would understand the claim ‘Since 1896, we’ve been the leaders in sustainable expeditions’ to refer to the sea travel aspect of the trip, but said the claim was not qualified with that information.
Customers would interpret ‘expeditions’ as meaning the holiday packages offered from Svalbard, likely to include a flight, the ASA said.
The ASA said: “While we acknowledged HX had taken steps to reduce the environmental impact of its cruises, those steps did not cover all aspects of their holiday packages, and were not referred to in the ad.
“For example, air travel, such as that required to take a HX cruise, produced high levels of both CO2 and non-CO2 emissions, which were making a substantial contribution to climate change. In addition, the measures in place were insufficient to support an absolute ‘sustainable’ claim in relation to the cruise aspect of the holiday.”
The ASA said its CAP Code – UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing – had been breached because HX hadn’t made the basis of the environmental claims clear and were not supported by a high level of substantiation.
Environmental claims must be based on the full life cycle of the advertised product, unless the ad stated otherwise, the CAP Code says.
The ASA said the ad should not appear again and told Hurtigruten to ensure it didn’t give a misleading impression of its expeditions’ environmental impact and to support claims robustly in future.
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The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint about an HX ad in the digital version of a national newspaper on 6 March.
The advert’s headline said: ‘Free flights to Svalbard and more’, with further text saying: “Selected Svalbard cruises with free flights […] Since 1896, we’ve been the leaders in sustainable expeditions.”
A complainant said the claim ‘sustainable expeditions’ gave a misleading impression of the advertised cruises’ environmental impact and asked whether it could be substantiated.
Hurtigruten UK, trading as HX, said the claim would be understood as meaning Hurtigruten’s expedition cruises, excluding flights, were sustainable.
It said the average customer would not think the claim ‘sustainable expeditions’ would include flights and the word ‘expeditions’ would have been interpreted as referring to the cruise component of the trip. The use of a cruise ship image and the text ‘SAIL THIS SUMMER’, ‘Selected Svalbard Cruises’ and ‘comfortable, purpose-built ships’ made it clear the ad was for a cruise company.
HX added it was clear the free flight was included as a time limited offer and added the claim ‘sustainable’ did not mean the cruises had no environmental impact whatsoever, but that its environmental impact was relatively low compared to other cruise lines and it aimed to make a minimal impact on nature.
The ASA acknowledged that customers would understand the claim ‘Since 1896, we’ve been the leaders in sustainable expeditions’ to refer to the sea travel aspect of the trip, but said the claim was not qualified with that information.
Customers would interpret ‘expeditions’ as meaning the holiday packages offered from Svalbard, likely to include a flight, the ASA said.
The ASA said: “While we acknowledged HX had taken steps to reduce the environmental impact of its cruises, those steps did not cover all aspects of their holiday packages, and were not referred to in the ad.
“For example, air travel, such as that required to take a HX cruise, produced high levels of both CO2 and non-CO2 emissions, which were making a substantial contribution to climate change. In addition, the measures in place were insufficient to support an absolute ‘sustainable’ claim in relation to the cruise aspect of the holiday.”
The ASA said its CAP Code – UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing – had been breached because HX hadn’t made the basis of the environmental claims clear and were not supported by a high level of substantiation.
Environmental claims must be based on the full life cycle of the advertised product, unless the ad stated otherwise, the CAP Code says.
The ASA said the ad should not appear again and told Hurtigruten to ensure it didn’t give a misleading impression of its expeditions’ environmental impact and to support claims robustly in future.
The post ASA rules sustainability claims in HX ad were misleading appeared first on Travel Gossip.
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