Oil giant Shell's UK ad campaign banned for being 'likely to mislead' consumers

Britain's advertizing regulator has banned an advertisement run promoting the greenish initiatives of Shell, saying the selling of the lipid giant's little emissions vigor products was "likely to mislead" consumers.

The prohibition concerns a poster seen successful Bristol successful southwest England, a TV advertisement and a video posted connected the Shell YouTube channel. All published successful 2022, the ads sought to rise consciousness of the scope of Shell's vigor products nether a run tagline of "The U.K. is acceptable for cleaner energy."

"From electrical conveyance charging to renewable energy for your home, Shell is giving customers much low-carbon choices and helping thrust the UK's vigor transition," the institution says successful 1 of the ads.

The Advertising Standards Authority said Tuesday that, pursuing an investigation, it had concluded that the advertisement run whitethorn pb radical to overestimate the firm's concern successful cleanable energy. The ASA said much accusation was indispensable to afloat seizure that astir of Shell's concern is based connected environmentally damaging fossil fuels.

Shell, which targets net-zero emissions by 2050, said it was acrophobic by what it described arsenic a "short-sighted" decision.

"We powerfully disagree with the ASA's decision, which could dilatory the UK's thrust towards renewable energy," a institution spokesperson said.

"People are already good alert that Shell produces the lipid and state they beryllium connected today," they said. "But what galore radical don't cognize is we're besides investing heavy successful low- and zero-carbon energy, including gathering 1 of the UK's largest nationalist networks of EV complaint points."

The ASA ruling noted that Shell believed the ads "accurately represented" the scope of little emissions vigor products and services it offers and that immoderate notation of the firm's high-carbon products would person been "counterproductive."

The pronouncement comes amid a palpable consciousness of frustration from clime activists during the Big Oil proxy voting season, wherever shareholders yet rejected calls for the companies to follow stronger measures to mitigate the clime crisis.

The burning of fossil fuels, specified arsenic oil, state and coal, is the main operator of the clime emergency.

The ASA said that consumers were "increasingly acrophobic astir the biology interaction of activities related to higher-carbon products and services."

Campaign radical AdFree Cities said ASA's ruling "sends a almighty message" to vigor companies that greenwashing advertisement campaigns would nary longer beryllium tolerated successful the U.K. They besides called for U.K. lawmakers to instrumentality robust authorities to halt fossil substance advertizing altogether.

"The world's biggest polluters volition not beryllium permitted to advertise that they are 'green' portion they physique caller pipelines, refineries and rigs — but this doesn't spell acold enough," said Veronica Wignall, co-director of Adfree Cities, who led the complaint.

"Shell and different fossil substance expanders should not beryllium permitted to advertise astatine all, fixed their historical and ongoing relation successful wrecking the planet," Wignall said.

Big Oil posted bumper profits past year, bolstered by soaring fossil substance prices and robust request pursuing Russia's full-scale penetration of Ukraine.

Shell reported its highest-ever yearly nett of astir $40 cardinal for 2022. That comfortably surpassed the $28.4 cardinal of 2008 that Shell said was its erstwhile yearly grounds and was much than treble the firm's full-year 2021 nett of $19.29 billion.

Last month, Shell posted adjusted net of $9.6 cardinal for the archetypal 3 months of 2023.

Shares of the institution were mixed connected Wednesday. Shell's banal terms is down astir 2.4% year-to-date.