Travel companies may continue to advertise air holidays.
That is what the Advertising Code Committee says in the appeal about a complaint about TUI’s advertising for air holidays to the Turkish Riviera.
Reclame Fossielvrij, the complainant, says it is disappointed.
The complaint had already been rejected in the first instance by the Advertising Code Committee (RCC) in April this year.
The Board of Appeal of the RCC confirmed this in a ruling of 7 August.
Reclame Fossielvrij had argued that TUI encourages consumers to adopt harmful behaviour with its TV advertisement for holidays in Turkey.
‘Flying is behaviour that is highly harmful to the environment, climate and health’, say the environmental activists.
According to them, this violates a general advertising rule, which states that advertisements must not incite harmful behaviour.
According to the Advertising Code Committee and now also the Appeals Board, the rules should not be interpreted so broadly.
‘Offering a flying holiday is a permissible economic activity.’ The assessment of the Advertising Code Committee therefore focuses on the question whether the content of the contested television commercial encourages behaviour that is harmful to health and/or encourages behaviour that is highly harmful to the environment.
According to the Committee, this is not the case, according to the judgment.
‘The television commercial focuses on the Turkish Riviera as a holiday destination. By seeing the holiday images, the viewer is not explicitly encouraged to engage in behaviour that is harmful to health and/or to the extent harmful to the environment.’ According to the environmentalists, the advertising watchdog is missing an opportunity to make a “meaningful statement for the climate to protect the health of citizens and the planet.”
Reclame Fossielvrij says it sees leads in the European advertising legislation and says it does not rule out submitting this to the court. TUI Response When asked, TUI said in a response: ‘The Appeals Board of the Advertising Code Committee (RCC) also rejected the claim in the appeal. Offering a flying holiday is a permitted economic activity, according to the RCC. There is no legal prohibition on offering air holidays and advertising this is also allowed. Advertising is a right that entrepreneurs have and we are pleased that the RCC has reaffirmed this.’ ‘That does not alter the fact that we are working to reduce the impact of air travel by focusing on a cleaner and quieter fleet and reducing emissions. This is part of our sustainability agenda.’ (Photo Shutterstock).
