Etihad claimed to be 'Environmental Airline of the Year' — the ASA banned its ads twice

In October 2022, Etihad ran two paid Facebook ads claiming it was 'taking a louder, bolder approach to sustainable aviation', offering Etihad Guest Miles for 'Conscious Choices', and referencing its award as 'Environmental Airline of the Year for 2022'. One ad also cited cutting back on single-use plastics and flying 'the most modern and efficient planes' with 'a smaller footprint'. On 12 April 2023 the ASA upheld complaints against both ads.

The ASA found 'sustainable aviation' was an absolute environmental claim that consumers would understand as applying to Etihad's whole business. Air travel produces high levels of CO2 and non-CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change, and the initiatives Etihad cited — plastics reduction, more efficient aircraft — did not substantiate the claim. No commercially viable technology currently substantiates such an absolute green claim, the regulator said, so the ads breached the CAP Code's misleading-advertising and environmental-claims rules.

On 6 December 2023 the ASA upheld a second complaint, against a paid Google ad seen in July 2023 that paired 'Total Peace Of Mind' with the phrase 'Environmental Advocacy'. Consumers would read the pairing as a claim that Etihad actively worked to protect the environment, the ASA said, and it expected a high level of substantiation for such an absolute claim. Etihad provided none. The ad was banned from appearing again in the complained-about form, and Etihad was told to ensure its ads did not give a misleading impression of the environmental impact of flying.

The December ruling landed in a wave of airline greenwashing bans: Lufthansa and Air France-KLM were sanctioned the same day for similar claims. Together the two Etihad rulings show the ASA applying the same standard twice to the same advertiser: an unqualified environmental claim in an aviation ad is a ban waiting to happen.