The TV, press and poster ads, by Euro RSCG London, attracted 149 complaints from people who felt the ads misleadingly implied EDF Energy was a "green" energy company and a British company.
EDF said it had made efforts to tackle environmental and social issues facing the industry.
It had released documents called Our Climate Commitments in 2007 and Our Social Commitments in 2008 outlining its role in dealing with these issues.
It explained the "Green Britain Day" and "Team Green Britain" initiatives, in association with the London 2012 Olympics, were aimed at encouraging communities in Britain to take collective action to make the country greener.
Clearcast said it was satisfied the idea of the campaign was not to promote EDF as a green company but to promote the campaign initiatives and motivate the public to change their behaviour and attitude toward the environment.
EDF maintained it is one of Britain’s largest energy companies, and although its parent company is French, its businesses are based in and supported by call centres across Britain. All of its businesses operate through companies which are registered in the UK. It also holds UK statutory licences allowing it to operate in the UK.
The ASA noted the ads did not make direct claims that EDF was a "green" company and consumers were likely to understand that it was promoting the importance of working together for a greener Britain.
The watchdog further considered that EDF was registered and based in the UK, and the ads did not explicitly state it was a British company. It believed consumers would not infer that EDF Energy was a British company.
The ASA concluded the ads were unlikely to mislead and deemed no further action was necessary.
In a statement, EDF Energy welcomed the ASA's decision.
Comments
This is utter greenwash. The Green Union Jack, the symbol used to promote British Renewable Energy Co Ecotricity and emblazoned across its vans, website and promoted in press advertising, was hi-jacked by EDF to represent Green Britain. Their campaign focussed on Green Britain day, which is clearly intended to lure consumers into believing that EDF has green issues and Britain at its heart. Which it doesn't. Questions need to be asked about the integrity of the ASA which is starting to look like the FSA before the credit crunch. Consumers need to be protected from corporate propaganda. It is dangerous to deceive people into believing that a company is part of a solution when in fact it is part of the problem. EDF is a coal importing, nuclear building, target missing, corporate giant that puts extraordinary pressures on government to bend its way. It is neither Green nor British. The Green Union Jack clearly implies that t is.
Never ever bite the hand that feeds u.
Extraordinary. From a company that imports 300 million tonnes of coal into the UK every year, boasts itself \(EDF Trading) to be "one of the largest participants in the global coal market', allegedly dumps nuclear waste in the open air in Siberia and is French.
Taken from www.edf.com: "The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to more than 38 million customers around the world, including more than 28 million in France. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index."
So it's French listed and approximately three quarters of its customers are in France - how, exactly, is EDF a British company?
The ASA really is a weak and useless entity
When companies are on the stock exchange anyone can own them, therefore the national terms of British, French, German, etc. no longer apply.
Is 'Guinness' Irish when it is owned by Diaggeo? Is 'Jameson Irish Whiskey' Irish when it is owned by Pernod Ricard? The idea of nation hood and brands is dieing at a rate as fast and large as the requirement of the super corporations to satisfy their shareholders \(the real owners) appetite for profit, and they could be based anywhere. Just because a company was started in France does not mean it is French owned. It's amazing how people hold onto this idea of nation hood and brand. I don't see it like that anymore, not when a brand goes global or European wide via expansion and shares to investors.
As for the green credentials. I don't know much about that side of it. Doesn't look good by the sound of the previous comments.
Perhaps a dirty brown tricolour flag would have been more appropriate...
Put aside all the British/French/Nuclear/Coal/Green stuff for a mo and ask yourself this: is it right for one company to take another company's idea and present it as their own... Would a RBR be happy if an AMV began sticking 'Every little helps' on their Sainsbury's ads?
Campaign is the ad biz trade organist after all.
To be fair, the ad didnt explicitly state that EDF was a British company or that it is a green company. Hard to see how the ASA could find the ad guilty of the claims levelled at it.
But Jim, that was the desired outtake. One doesn't have to be a wise Vulcan to see you can achieve that objective without having to explicitly state it.
Even I, with two non-pointy ears, can fathom that waving a Green Union flag, Green Britain Day in front of the eyes of the British public, and paying '10 Big Ones' to get Britain's Olympic Team for 2012 all over my publicity material could easily give the impression I want to give, namely, I'm British, I'm Green and I wanna be seen... as such.
What does the ASA actually do? Why do they exist? They're useless. This is a scandal. Everyone knows what EDF are implying.
Fair point, Grilla - I agree that the implication was clearly there. My badly expressed point was that I wasn't sure if the ASA was able to deal with implied messages. Maybe it is. I dunno.
I'm with the ASA. nowhere in the ad's do they as a company claim to be green and british, they are only supporting the idea that THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN should try to be greener. We can only hope they are also encouraging the people of France to be greener, although their flag is a bit too boring to patchwork.
Ruby, you and the ASA would suit each other just fine.
Jim, the ASA guys need an 'Outtake-o-meter.' I'm busily patenting one as we blog, because my left hand can work independently of my right.
Ruby, study advertising a bit harder; then you'll learn you don't have to state stuff explicitly to achieve the desired effect. Good luck with getting a job.
How to double glaze your house courtesy of EDF.
A few years ago I switched to EDF as my bills began to strangely soar.
I switched to EDF because when the salesman came round he told
me they were part of Scottish Power. I have since learnt different.
I was working away from home and my wife received excessive Bills.
She told me "we don't use this much electricity and gas do we?"
I looked at the bills, and sure enough she was right.
There was a barely visible plus sign beside the amount removed
from my account. Nobody had notified me, they just did it.
I phoned them and told them, "I demand my money back".
£1,200 later, we decided to complete the double glazing on the house
to ensure the bills were no higher. I cancelled EDF and switched to Southern.
The bills are cheaper, there are no invisible plus signs on the bills, and, to the best of my knowledge, they are still a British company. I just feel sorry for pensioners who are with EDF who cannot see the little plus signs.
When I cancelled with EDF, I told the guy at the other end of the phone that I'd been sold the service on the strength of EDF being a British concern, keeping British people in British jobs, but just for the record, out of curiosity, can you tell me what do the letters EDF actually stand for?
There was a very long silence, then he said: "Electricite de France."
I said: "Merci" and "Au revoir " as they say in France.
The thing that rubs me the wrong way with this whole campaign is that it's supposed to be about asking us to change our behaviours for the betterment of the environment while EDF is guilty of some pretty terrible things in that same area. A case of 'do as I say, not do as I do'? Makes it pretty hard for me to want to follow their advice. Perhaps they should consider how to better lead by example.
http://www.onpointemarketing.com/
I looked at ASA's own rules
"TRUTHFULNESS
7.1 No marketing communication should mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise.
I think the marketing IS likely to mislead. EDF have also blatantly nicked the marketing idea of Ecotricity who ARE a British renewable energy concern.
ASA link http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/codes/cap_code/
Comments
R Smith - 28/10/2009
This is utter greenwash. The Green Union Jack, the symbol used to promote British Renewable Energy Co Ecotricity and emblazoned across its vans, website and promoted in press advertising, was hi-jacked by EDF to represent Green Britain. Their campaign focussed on Green Britain day, which is clearly intended to lure consumers into believing that EDF has green issues and Britain at its heart. Which it doesn't. Questions need to be asked about the integrity of the ASA which is starting to look like the FSA before the credit crunch. Consumers need to be protected from corporate propaganda. It is dangerous to deceive people into believing that a company is part of a solution when in fact it is part of the problem. EDF is a coal importing, nuclear building, target missing, corporate giant that puts extraordinary pressures on government to bend its way. It is neither Green nor British. The Green Union Jack clearly implies that t is.
Grilla Login - 28/10/2009
Never ever bite the hand that feeds u.
Mat Kemp - 28/10/2009
Extraordinary. From a company that imports 300 million tonnes of coal into the UK every year, boasts itself \(EDF Trading) to be "one of the largest participants in the global coal market', allegedly dumps nuclear waste in the open air in Siberia and is French.
Andrew Wilson - 28/10/2009
Taken from www.edf.com: "The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to more than 38 million customers around the world, including more than 28 million in France. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index." So it's French listed and approximately three quarters of its customers are in France - how, exactly, is EDF a British company?
David Pearce - 28/10/2009
The ASA really is a weak and useless entity
John Gallen - 28/10/2009
When companies are on the stock exchange anyone can own them, therefore the national terms of British, French, German, etc. no longer apply. Is 'Guinness' Irish when it is owned by Diaggeo? Is 'Jameson Irish Whiskey' Irish when it is owned by Pernod Ricard? The idea of nation hood and brands is dieing at a rate as fast and large as the requirement of the super corporations to satisfy their shareholders \(the real owners) appetite for profit, and they could be based anywhere. Just because a company was started in France does not mean it is French owned. It's amazing how people hold onto this idea of nation hood and brand. I don't see it like that anymore, not when a brand goes global or European wide via expansion and shares to investors. As for the green credentials. I don't know much about that side of it. Doesn't look good by the sound of the previous comments.
Dave Humphrey - 28/10/2009
Perhaps a dirty brown tricolour flag would have been more appropriate...
Grilla Login - 28/10/2009
Put aside all the British/French/Nuclear/Coal/Green stuff for a mo and ask yourself this: is it right for one company to take another company's idea and present it as their own... Would a RBR be happy if an AMV began sticking 'Every little helps' on their Sainsbury's ads? Campaign is the ad biz trade organist after all.
James T Kirk - 28/10/2009
To be fair, the ad didnt explicitly state that EDF was a British company or that it is a green company. Hard to see how the ASA could find the ad guilty of the claims levelled at it.
Grilla Login - 28/10/2009
But Jim, that was the desired outtake. One doesn't have to be a wise Vulcan to see you can achieve that objective without having to explicitly state it. Even I, with two non-pointy ears, can fathom that waving a Green Union flag, Green Britain Day in front of the eyes of the British public, and paying '10 Big Ones' to get Britain's Olympic Team for 2012 all over my publicity material could easily give the impression I want to give, namely, I'm British, I'm Green and I wanna be seen... as such.
kiki kendrick - 28/10/2009
What does the ASA actually do? Why do they exist? They're useless. This is a scandal. Everyone knows what EDF are implying.
James T Kirk - 28/10/2009
Fair point, Grilla - I agree that the implication was clearly there. My badly expressed point was that I wasn't sure if the ASA was able to deal with implied messages. Maybe it is. I dunno.
Ruby Rosamund - 28/10/2009
I'm with the ASA. nowhere in the ad's do they as a company claim to be green and british, they are only supporting the idea that THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN should try to be greener. We can only hope they are also encouraging the people of France to be greener, although their flag is a bit too boring to patchwork.
Grilla Login - 28/10/2009
Ruby, you and the ASA would suit each other just fine.
Grilla Login - 28/10/2009
Jim, the ASA guys need an 'Outtake-o-meter.' I'm busily patenting one as we blog, because my left hand can work independently of my right. Ruby, study advertising a bit harder; then you'll learn you don't have to state stuff explicitly to achieve the desired effect. Good luck with getting a job.
Kevin Gordon - 28/10/2009
How to double glaze your house courtesy of EDF. A few years ago I switched to EDF as my bills began to strangely soar. I switched to EDF because when the salesman came round he told me they were part of Scottish Power. I have since learnt different. I was working away from home and my wife received excessive Bills. She told me "we don't use this much electricity and gas do we?" I looked at the bills, and sure enough she was right. There was a barely visible plus sign beside the amount removed from my account. Nobody had notified me, they just did it. I phoned them and told them, "I demand my money back". £1,200 later, we decided to complete the double glazing on the house to ensure the bills were no higher. I cancelled EDF and switched to Southern. The bills are cheaper, there are no invisible plus signs on the bills, and, to the best of my knowledge, they are still a British company. I just feel sorry for pensioners who are with EDF who cannot see the little plus signs. When I cancelled with EDF, I told the guy at the other end of the phone that I'd been sold the service on the strength of EDF being a British concern, keeping British people in British jobs, but just for the record, out of curiosity, can you tell me what do the letters EDF actually stand for? There was a very long silence, then he said: "Electricite de France." I said: "Merci" and "Au revoir " as they say in France.
Stef Brown - 29/10/2009
The thing that rubs me the wrong way with this whole campaign is that it's supposed to be about asking us to change our behaviours for the betterment of the environment while EDF is guilty of some pretty terrible things in that same area. A case of 'do as I say, not do as I do'? Makes it pretty hard for me to want to follow their advice. Perhaps they should consider how to better lead by example. http://www.onpointemarketing.com/
Grilla Login - 29/10/2009
ASA, EDF & BLIND ; )
Jean Vidler - 06/11/2009
I looked at ASA's own rules "TRUTHFULNESS 7.1 No marketing communication should mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise. I think the marketing IS likely to mislead. EDF have also blatantly nicked the marketing idea of Ecotricity who ARE a British renewable energy concern. ASA link http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/codes/cap_code/