New government billboard rules force car ads to carry large CO2, fuel economy data

by Alex Brownsell, marketingmagazine.co.uk 16-Jan-09, 14:15

LONDON - The Department for Transport (DfT) will demand that car advertisers increase the visibility of CO2 emission and fuel economy information on outdoor ads.

Marketing has gained access to DfT documents which will state that information on fuel economy and CO2 emissions ‘should be easily legible by a person standing on the opposite side of the road'.

It adds: ‘It is not sufficient that the advertisement can be read by someone standing directly in front of the billboard, since it is designed to be seen by a much wider audience.'

The document also states that CO2 emission information does not necessarily have to be visible to a passing vehicle.

The DfT has been holding discussions with stakeholders such as ISBA and the Advertising Standards Authority since August last year, in an effort to finalise a set of guidelines on how environmental data should be presented on car ads.

In June, the DfT revised its rules to state that the promotional literature requiring CO2 and fuel economy figures included outdoor ads, and that the data must share ‘equal prominence' with the main information of the ad.

However, environmental lobby groups such as Friends of the Earth and the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s - which recently rebranded to We Are Futurproof - put pressure of the DfT to create a more specific set of guidances which were also applicable to primarily graphical ads.

For the full reaction to the guidelines, read the 21 January edition of Marketing.