{"id":1591,"date":"2023-12-10T16:30:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T14:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2023-12-10T19:02:47","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T17:02:47","slug":"truth-in-advertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/?p=1591","title":{"rendered":"Truth in Advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

That Was The Week That Was 04-08 December<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have really got to admire the advertising departments of airlines.  For a decade now, a decade! they have been rolling out advertisements that talk up their employers\u2019 \u2013 or clients\u2019 \u2013 attempts to sell an environmentally friendly sustainability story.  All cuddly and nice, the airlines want you to fly sustainably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As long ago as 2014<\/a> \u2013 remember 2014? \u2013 we met the word \u2018greenwashing\u2019 when Richard Branson \u2013 remember Richard Branson? \u2013 was taken to task for promising to deliver $3 billion to save the planet, and actually delivering $230 million.\u00a0 How exotic the neologism greenwashing seemed then.\u00a0 How trendy, how now, how hip, how fun.\u00a0 Whoops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, advertising standards regulators<\/a>, environmentalists<\/a>, courts<\/a> \u2013 courts<\/a>! \u2013 have consistently ruled against the sustainability claims airlines make.  You would almost be tempted to see a pattern here.  The most recent ruling was this week, the week that was.  Air France, Etihad and Lufthansa were all ruled off-side<\/a> by the UK Advertising Standards Authority.  If you have to have a job, you might do worse than work for an organisation that regulates the standards of advertising.  How hard can that be?  Even pilots have to pay attention sometimes.  So how egregious must the advertisements be to fall foul of the advertising industry\u2019s standards?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s not get into a complex semantic discussion about what words might actually work \u2013 angels on the head of a pin territory \u2013 instead, what the airlines should do is accept defeat gracefully by doing a Trump (yes, intended irony there).  The airlines should double down.  The advertising standards bodies want the truth.  Can they handle the truth? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The airlines should give them the truth.  It is time to change tack.  Let\u2019s tell it like it is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n