FirstGroup Bus Carbon Claims Misleading

FirstGroup, an international transport operator, has been strongly criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for making misleading claims about the emissions of its buses. The ad watchdog got involved after a complaint was launched over the environmental message of a television promotion that showed a poster on the rear of a bus. The advertisement was shown on September 23 on television and online. Now, however, it’s been banned.

The message said that the company loves low emissions and that their buses produce 4.95% less emissions than conventional diesel buses. A complaint referring to the Department of Transport’s position on green buses caught the ASA’s attention. The watchdog then discovered that the bus fleet didn’t meet criteria set by the government for low-carbon vehicles.

The DfT says that green buses should produce 30% less emissions than conventional diesel vehicles. The same guideline is also used by Transport Scotland for low-emissions buses. The ASA said in their ruling that they consider most viewers would expect low-carbon vehicles in a transport ad to be in line with the definition set by the DfT.

The watchdog also noted that it has been recently announced by the government that 542 new green buses would be put on England’s roads, and these will produce 30% less emissions than conventional buses. They believe that some viewers would be misled into believing that FirstGroup buses are comparable to these buses when they only produce 4.97% less carbon, rather than 30%.

FirstGroup, according to the ASA, believed the person who filed the complaint misinterpreted its promotion and didn’t believe the definition of low-carbon buses set by the DfT was widely known. A spokeswoman for the company said that they are committed to reducing their fleet’s environmental impact. They operate several hybrid buses across the UK, including ten in Glasgow. They continue investing substantially in their fleet to make their buses more environmentally friendly.

The spokeswoman continued that First Group’s claim of low-carbon buses was in relation to their wider-reaching corporate aims regarding climate change instead of a comparison to the benchmark set by the DfT, which was demonstrated by the qualifying on-screen text used to avoid the ad being deemed misleading.

Clearcast, the body that screens television ads to ensure they meet minimum required standards, accepted the FirstGroup promotion. It said the definition set by the DfT was for its own purposes and unrelated to the bus operator’s claim. The on-screen text was qualified by the statement of how much less emissions FirstGroup buses produced in comparison to conventional buses. No viewers would have been misled by the assertion of low-emissions due to the qualifying text appearing on the screen at the same time as the claim, the organisation added.