ASA upholds complaints against Virgin Atlantic Flight 100 advert
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has passed a ruling concerning a Virgin Atlantic radio advert, aired in November 2023; stating that further clarification concerning Flight 100’s sustainable aviation fuel should have been provided lest the airline’s sustainability claims prove misleading to the general public.
Virgin Atlantic’s use of the phrase “100% sustainable aviation fuel” was challenged by a number of complainants and upheld by the ASA on the grounds that, in the words of the judgement, “most consumers…. were unlikely to be aware of the extent to which fuels described as sustainable aviation fuel still had negative environmental impacts, and in what ways”.
Although the advert did make the differentiation that the demonstration Flight 100 was unique in its use of 100% SAF, “the absence of information in the ad which explained that sustainable aviation fuel produced reduced, but still significant, emissions over its full lifecycle, including in-flight emissions, and which explained the ways in which the fuel otherwise significantly adversely impacted the environment,” would likely lead to a “significant proportion” of listeners overestimating its environmental benefits.
Virgin, however, maintained that the advert’s wording mirrored the terms of the UK Department for Transport’s competition (won by the carrier in December 2022) and encompassed the airline’s intention to “improve transparency and understanding around sustainable aviation fuel” as part of its Flight 100 demonstration.
After receiving notification from the ASA about the complaint, Virgin undertook a survey that indicated 68% of people “understood from the ad that sustainable aviation fuel was better for the environment than traditional jet fuel, but not without any adverse impact”. However, the terminology of “sustainable aviation fuel” itself – despite being something used “universally by governments, regulators, industry bodies, fuel companies, the International Civil Aviation Organsiation, airlines, academia, aircraft and engine manufacturers and mainstream media” – was still called into question by the ASA, which believed further clarification and context should have been provided about the product,
With the ASA concluding that more information about SAF’s limitations to reduce environmental impact “would have had an impact on the transactional decisions of those listeners,” it therefore concluded “100% sustainable aviation fuel” to be an unqualified claim. In accordance with the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code), Virgin Atlantic must now include “qualifying information which explained the environmental impact of the [sustainable aviation] fuel” in all future adverts.
