The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have banned Repsol’s renewable hydrogen ads over “misleading” content.
The UK’s advertising watchdog said that Repsol’s “unqualified environmental claims could mislead if they omitted significant information.”
Repsol’s advert, first seen on the Financial Times website and its digital energy newsletter in July 2023, featured an image of a water droplet with text that stated: “Renewable hydrogen, another alternative to reduce emissions.
“At Repsol, we are committed to renewable hydrogen as an energy source that offers up different uses such as zero net emissions synthetic fuel production,” the advert continued.
While the ASA acknowledged the audience of its digital energy newsletter would “have an awareness” about renewable energy, consumers and businesses looking to transition to renewables were “unlikely to be aware of the specific details of such technology – for example, that the development of renewable hydrogen was in its infancy and was not yet commercially available.”
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The advert ad also featured a series of graphics including solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles.
The ASA argued that the ad gave an “overall impression that a significant proportion of Repsol’s business comprised lower carbon energy.”
As the company has a substantial oil and gas exploration strategy, ASA argues that “further information about the proportion of Repsol’s overall business model that comprised lower carbon energy was material information that should have been included.”
As the advert didn’t include such information, the ASA concluded the advert “omitted material information and was likely to mislead.”
