HX rapped by watchdog for ‘misleading’ sustainability claim
HX, formerly Hurtigruten Expeditions, has been pulled by the UK advertising standards watchdog for a “misleading” sustainability claim in a fly-cruise advert
The ad, posted in the digital version of a national newspaper on 6 March 2024, featured the claim: “free flights to Svalbard and more”, with further text stating “selected Svalbard cruises with free flights […] Since 1896, we’ve been the leaders in sustainable expeditions”.
The complainant, who believed the statement “sustainable expeditions” gave a misleading impression of the advertised expeditions’ environmental impact, challenged whether it was misleading and could be substantiated.
In response, HX said an average consumer would not have understood the claim “sustainable expeditions” as including flights, with the word “expedition” having much stronger associations with travel by land or sea.
The line also explained the claim “sustainable” did not mean the cruises had no environmental impact whatsoever; moreover, that their environmental impact was relatively low in the context of other cruise companies.
Despite the line’s reasoning the complaint was upheld by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), which ruled the ad must not appear again in the form complained of.
“We told HX to ensure the basis of future environmental claims was made clear and did not give a misleading impression of their expeditions’ environmental impact, and that robust substantiation was held to support them,” the ruling read.
The authority said HX’s advert had breached the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) rules 3.1, misleading advertising; and 11.1, 11.3, and 11.4, environmental claims.
HX told ‘absolute environmental claims must be substantiated’
“The CAP Code required that the basis of environmental claims must be clear, and that absolute environmental claims must be supported by a high level of substantiation. Environmental claims must be based on the full life cycle of the advertised product, unless the ad stated otherwise,” the ASA continued.
“Because the basis of the claim had not been made clear and we had not seen evidence based on the full life cycle of the product to support the absolute claim ‘sustainable expeditions’ as it would be understood by consumers, we concluded the ad had misleadingly minimised the impact of HX’s holidays and therefore breached the code.”
