Industry Advertising \"warnings\"

[ozpont]

LONDON, Oct. 28 —
Quick, what’s more dangerous: automobiles or cigarettes?

The European Parliament proposed last Wednesday that car advertisements in the European Union carry tobacco-style labels, warning of the environmental impact they cause.

Under the plan, 20 percent of the space or time of any auto ad would have to be set aside for information on a car’s fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, cited as a contributor to global climate change.

So, should we prepare for warnings along the lines of, “Driving this car may damage the health of the planet”?

Perhaps not just yet. The European Union lawmaking road is long and curvy, and the Parliament cannot initiate legislation. Instead, it sometimes tries to legislate by press release, taking populist stances in an effort to put pressure on industry and the European Commission. The commission, which holds much of the real lawmaking power within the 27-country bloc, often takes a softer line.

Still, automakers and their ad agencies are taking the matter seriously, for fear that cars might go the way of tobacco or junk food. Cigarette advertising has been almost entirely eliminated across Europe, and several countries have placed restrictions on ads for unhealthy food.

Automakers account for more than $8.6 billion a year in annual ad spending in Western Europe, according to the European Association of Communications Agencies, a trade organization based in Brussels for the marketing industry. Lobbyists argue that some of that could dry up, hurting carmakers, ad agencies and media owners, if marketers were required to place a prominent environmental warning in their ads.

“The European Parliament’s proposals will disincentivize car manufacturers from advertising, have a damaging effect on the media that rely on advertising for their revenues and will not in our view have much effect on consumer attitudes,” said Peta Buscombe, chief executive of the Advertising Association in Britain.

The advertising industry argues that it is being made a scapegoat, even as lawmakers back away from other steps to curb carbon dioxide emissions. But Chris Davies, a British member of the European Parliament who sponsored the measure, said the proposed labels could make a difference. Many auto ads now seem to be aimed at enticing consumers to buy bigger, faster, more gas-guzzling cars than they need, he said.

“The rationale is to try to get carmakers to compete on environmental information about their cars, rather than purely on power, speed and appearance,” he said.

Advertising organizations say they will focus on lobbying the commission, which is expected to make proposals on reducing automotive emissions next year.

The auto industry has pledged to come up with a new set of voluntary guidelines on car advertising, monitored by industry-financed advertising-standards organizations.

This self-regulation has been widely adopted across Europe in an effort to keep regulators from imposing restrictions on all kinds of advertising