Environmental campaigners have accused Britain’s advertising watchdog of bias for overturning a ruling banning ads for the mud-splashed Land Rover Defender off-road vehicle after previously claiming it encouraged the driving that is “socially irresponsible” can “cause damage to vulnerable habitats”.
An advertisement in the national newspaper featured a Defender in a forest with the headline “Life is so much better without limits”. The text that accompanies the ad says the 4×4 has “the ability to go almost anywhere and do anything. If you take an extended test drive… a whole new world of freedom awaits.”
The Advertising Standards Authority has received 96 complaints, including from several environmental advocacy groups, that advertising lacks social responsibility in encouraging and tolerating possible behavior. destroy ecologically sensitive environments and be detrimental to the environment.
Jaguar Land Rover, the Indian-owned automaker that makes the Defender in Slovakia, said the car was depicted on a pre-established track in the woods and focused on enhancing freedom after relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, not irresponsible driving.
In a draft recommendation shared with complainants, the ASA, which in September said it would crack down on marketing that promotes environmentally irresponsible behavior, ruled that the ad should be banned.
“The overall impression of the advertisement suggests that the vehicle can be driven without any restrictions, even in terrain and ecologically sensitive environments such as forests, where doing so can cause cause damage to vulnerable habitats and vegetation,” the ASA said.
“We believe that advertising promotes and condone the use of media in a manner that is harmful to the ecologically sensitive and therefore socially irresponsible environment.”
The final sign of the ruling, however, was given by the 12-member ASA panel, eight of whom are considered “independent” of the media industry. The board decides whether the ad violates the advertising rules.
The final ruling, published on Wednesday, overturned the draft proposal and removed ads that breached any UK advertising rules, saying advertisers should “be careful” when describe vehicles in ecologically sensitive environments such as forests.
It added that sack-free roads such as the one described in the advert were common in many rural areas and that 4×4 vehicles could be “important in those communities”. “We therefore consider that the vehicle depicted in the advertisement was not used irresponsibly… and that the advertisement was not socially irresponsible,” the ASA concluded. “No further action is needed.”
Robbie Gillett, from the Adfree Cities campaign, who complained about the ad, said: “The ASA board gave a too narrow assessment of this Land Rover ad and failed to see it in a broader picture of life. The climate crisis is worsening, urban SUV ownership is on the rise, and air pollution is on the rise.
The watchdog said that the ASA board determined that the claims in the ad were about Covid-19 restrictions, not the environment. “The independent panel ensures that our rulings are impartial,” a spokesperson said. “They determined that consumers would understand ‘Life is so much better without restrictions’ as a tagline referring to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, rather than the environment. They also determined that… it was not clear that the vehicle was definitely off-road, illegal or irresponsible.”
In a separate ruling, the ASA banned an in-app ad for a mobile game called Gold and Goblins that “trivializes and condones the serious and sensitive subject of domestic violence.” The ad includes a video of a woman playing a game on her mobile phone, while behind her a man holds a chair and pulls it over his head as if to attack. she equals it.
