The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) of South Africa has instructed its members not to accept any advertising from TotalEnergies with the wording “committed to sustainable development” relating to its support of South African National Parks (SANParks).
This follows a complaint from a local consumer that brought into question the petrol station giant’s commitment to sustainability.
Greenwashing
In partnership with SANParks, TotalEnergies recently ran a promotional campaign where participants could win a weekend getaway to SANParks locations.
In the ad, TotalEnergies states that it is “committed to sustainable development and environmental protection” and that is the reason it has “partnered with SANParks for over 60 years.”
The complainant harboured contention toward this particular line.
Writing to the ARB, the consumer stated: “The ad claims that TotalEnergies is ‘committed to sustainable development and environmental protection’. This is a completely false and misleading claim, which we believe constitutes greenwashing. TotalEnergies is lying to the public about the nature of their business.”
The Complainant additionally furnished the ARB with a list of citations that detailed the “facts” about the petrol company’s environmental and sustainability impacts.
Among others, the list states that TotalEnergies is the world’s 19th biggest greenhouse gas emitter, that it caused R1.4 trillion in climate damage in 2022, and that it has a 62% stake in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project which, if built, will generate over 34 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every single year, displace tens of thousands of people, open up critical ecosystems for oil development, and run through some of the world’s most important elephant, lion, and chimpanzee reserves.
The ARB communicated these complaints to TotalEnergies, which contested the statements.
The company said that the challenged content is not an advertisement and does not promote or advertise the sale, leasing, or use of goods or services.
It is merely a corporate communication about an aspect of the corporate social responsibility programs of TotalEnergies Marketing South Africa, informing stakeholders about the company’s partnership with SANParks to encourage people to visit the country’s national parks, it said.
“Given that the challenged communication is not an advertisement, it is our view that it should not be subjected to the ARB’s review,” said TotalEnergies.
Furthermore, it said the challenged content is neither false nor misleading.
“The stated commitment to sustainable development and environmental protection is not false nor misleading as, on the contrary, it is grounded in the Company’s general strategy and policies, as proven by concrete actions and results displayed publicly for stakeholders,” said TotalEnergies.
The company provided several documents to the ARB detailing its numerous sustainability practices, including its approach to sustainable development and climate goals and the care taken to avoid environmental damage on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project.
Screenshot of the TotalEnergies promotion on the company’s website
In deciding on the case, the ARB considered Clause 2 and Clause 4.2.1 of Section II of the Code of Advertising Practice.
Clause 2 of Section II, which deals with Honesty, states that: “Advertisements should not be so framed as to abuse the trust of the consumer or exploit their lack of experience, knowledge, or credulity.”
Similarly, Clause 4.2.1 of Section II, which deals with Misleading claims, states: “Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation which, directly or by implication, omission, ambiguity, inaccuracy, exaggerated claim, or otherwise, is likely to mislead the consumer.”
In addition, the ARB deemed that the contested material does, in fact, constitute an advertisement as it was posted on a website that promotes TotalEnergies’ products and business.
For the purposes of this ruling, however, the ARB only took into account claims made in this particular piece of advertising, disregarding the advertiser’s broad business practices and how they impact the environment
“The Advertisement under review is a web page that details the #FuelYourExperience competition. Underpinning it is the explanation that the competition is one of the ways in which TotalEnergies has partnered with SANParks (South Africa National Parks) to encourage people to visit these parks,” said the ARB.
“The problematic statement in this webpage, as the Complainant asserts is: “We’re committed to sustainable development and environmental protection. That’s why we’ve partnered with SANParks for over 60 years, so that South Africans can appreciate our country’s natural heritage and pass on a love for the environment to their children.”
The claim therefore comes down to two aspects:
- Sustainable development
- Environmental protection
“The Directorate believes that the public will read both claims in the context of the corporate social investment page on which it appears, and understand that the corporate social investment activities are the activities to which the Advertiser is referring. The claims are linked to the rest of the sentence, which refers to the SANParks partnership, and must therefore be read in this context,” said the ARB.
“Further, it is likely that the public will understand that the claims are aspirational in nature. Finally, the consumer will understand that these claims are made in the context of a fuel company, which it must be
accepted has certain inherent environmentally unfriendly aspects to its business.”
The ARB consequently considered whether TotalEnergies’ partnership with SANParks is indicative of a commitment to environmental protection and sustainable development.
“The Directorate accepts that supporting an organisation for more than 60 years certainly constitutes a commitment by the Advertiser to that organisation, and that through the Advertiser’s support, positive work in safeguarding and promoting South Africa’s natural heritage has been carried out,” said the ARB.
“There is no question in the Directorate’s mind that the work of SANParks is geared towards environmental protection, and that support of SANParks therefore supports environmental protection. For this reason, the claim “committed to . . . environmental protection” is not unreasonable in this context.”
The remaining issue was whether TotalEnergies’ support of SANParks amounts to a commitment to sustainable development.
After considering the facts at its disposal, the ARB found no evidence of a link between the support of SANParks, and any definition of sustainable development.
“Given this, the claim “sustainable development” in the context of the SANParks support is misleading and in contravention of Clause 4.2.1 of Section II of the Code,” said the ARB.
It duly took action by instructing its members not to accept this advertisement in the future.
“The ARB instructs its members not to accept any advertising from the Advertiser with the wording “committed to sustainable development”, relating only to its support of SANParks,” concluded the ARB ruling.
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