Climate Change Denialists Win a Round: U.K. Ad Ban Limits Options for Green Brands

(MoneyWatch)  The British Advertising Standards Authority's ban of two government ads calling for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions could have some unexpected consequences for companies promoting green products in the U.K. Its requirement that global warming predictions reach a strict standard of "truthfulness" and "substantiation" could needlessly deter companies from promoting the environmentally positive side of what they do.

One of the ads in question depicted the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme:

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

There was none, as extreme weather due to climate change had caused a drought.

(OK, so it's not going to win a Cannes lion next year, but the TV spot, below, is nice and creepy.) Climate change deniers had urged that its conclusions were unproven. In making its decision, the ASA plunged into an area where it has no expertise, and attempted to make a judgment about whether it was valid to claim that there would be future droughts in Britain given that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had found a "likely" 66 percent probability of that happening.

The ASA concluded that 66 percent was not likely enough to base an ad claim on. (If you ever get a chance to play poker against anyone from the ASA, I suggest you go for it -- their understanding of odds seems to be somewhat limited.) The ASA actually upheld most of the government's campaign, but the real damage will be done in terms of the ads that we don't see. Companies trying to sell energy efficient devices, products that use less water or fuel, or brands that have green equity may shy away from using "save the earth"-type claims in their ads in favor of less emotive stuff. Given that there's no harm in trying to stave off climate change even if we're wrong about it, and lots of harm if we don't and we're not, this seems like a step too far.

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