Truth in advertising

Advertising Standards Authority in U.K. banned a Renewable Fuels Association ad 2

Last year, when oil prices were peaking, OPEC President Chakib Khelil told an Algerian newspaper that “the intrusion of bioethanol on the market” was responsible for 40 percent of the rise in oil prices—an asinine, unsubstantiated remark that nobody believed.

The Renewable Fuels Association saw this as an opportunity to promote their own environmentally destructive product with equally asinine, unsubstantiated remarks in an open letter to OPEC. However, George Monbiot complained to the Advertising Standards Authority in the U.K., who subsequently banned the ad. He didn’t like their use of the word “sustainable.”

I’m not aware of an American equivalent of the ASA, but we sure could use one.

My real name is Russ Finley. I live in Seattle, married with children. Suffice it to say that although I am trained and educated as an engineer, my passion is nature. I very much want my grandchildren to live on a planet where lions, tigers, and bears have not joined the long and growing list of creatures that used to be. In an attempt to minimize the workload on Grist editors responsible for turning my submissions into intelligible articles, I will also be posting on a seperate blog called Biodiversivist, which will contain articles in addition to those submitted to Grist.

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  1. stevenearlsalmony Posted 5:04 am
    18 Jan 2009

    The most dangerous game in town...........Destroying the value of truth to the human community by consciously substituting whatsoever could somehow be true with silence. Such perpetration of willful silence is tantamount to a pernicious lie.
    Steven Earl Salmony

    AWAREness Campaign on the Human Population,

    established 2001

    http://sustainabilityscience.org/content.html?contentid=1 ...

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  2. Tasermons Partner Posted 5:54 am
    18 Jan 2009

    It varies...I'm not aware of an American equivalent of the ASA, but we sure could use one.
    That generally falls under the FCC, 'specially for television and radio.
    Sometimes state and local courts will also take up the issue as well, and rule (or try to) against what they believe to be fraudlant advertising (since advertising laws can vary by region).
    Lawsuits also pick up the slack sometimes.

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