ASA Adjudication on BMW (UK) Ltd

Ad

A press ad for BMV stated “100% JOY 0% EMISSIONS". The ad went on to state “The BMW Concept ActiveE is the first BMW to be powered purely by electricity … Thanks to its electrifying performance and zero CO2 emissions when driving, the ActiveE redefines BMW EfficientDynamics". The small print stated “BMW EfficientDynamics reduces BMW emissions without compromising performance development”.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the claims "0% EMISSIONS" and "zero CO2 when driving" were misleading, because they understood that the car needed to be charged with electricity from the National Grid, which would result in the production of emissions.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

BMW explained that the headline claim "0% EMISSIONS" was supported in the body copy by the claim "zero CO2 emissions when driving". They believed that the inclusion of the phrase "when driving" limited the claim to when the car was in use and did not suggest the car was zero carbon across its life cycle.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA understood that the BMW Concept ActiveE was a concept car that needed to be powered by electricity to operate. We considered that the claim "0% emissions" was likely to be interpreted by readers to mean that the cars use would not result in the production of emissions. We noted that the vehicle was only able to operate because it had been charged with electricity from the National Grid, which would result in the production of emissions, contrary to the claim "0% emissions". We also noted that previous ASA adjudications for electric cars and products had concluded that, when electric vehicles were powered by electricity from the National Grid, with a fuel-mix predominantly from non-renewable sources, a zero emissions claim was likely to mislead.

We considered that the inclusion of the phrase "when driving" was contradictory to the overall zero emission claim and the impression that the cars use would not result in the production of emissions. We therefore concluded that the claims "0% emissions" and "zero CO2 emissions when driving" were likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 49.1, 49.2 (Environmental claims).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told BMW not to repeat claims that stated or implied that an electric vehicle would produce zero emissions in use.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)