Complaints made to Advertising Standards Authority over Luton Rising adverts branded 'misleading' by campaigners

Campaigners have reported a Luton Rising advert to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – claiming it is “misleading” and “greenwashing”.

Seven complaints have been made to the ASA about the advert, which has been seen on the London Underground network, in the New Statesman and online.

But Luton Rising said it would “never intentionally run a false or misleading advertisement”.

The advert reads: “If we miss our environmental limits, our expansion will be stopped in its tracks.

“If London Luton Airport breaks the environmental limits set out in its expansion proposal, it won't mean an apology, it will mean further expansion is stopped.”

The Advertising Standards Authority said: “We’ve received seven complaints about these ads. The complainants argue that the ads make misleading environmental claims, and don’t take into account all sources of emissions when making claims about the airport’s emissions in general. They also argue that the ads are socially irresponsible.

“We’re reviewing these complaints and, as such, can’t comment any further at this time – to emphasise, we are not currently investigating these ads.”

A spokesperson for Luton Rising said: “The ASA has been in contact to request information about the campaign which we provided.

“The claims and facts in the advertisements were thoroughly checked before the campaign launched. Luton Rising would never intentionally run a false or misleading advertisement.

“We have developed sustainability protocols and uphold our pledge to not expand if it would lead to a breach of the environmental thresholds laid out in our green controlled growth framework.”

Campaigners argue that the poster, created by the Hope agency, is misleading and amounts to greenwashing as it doesn’t include figures about emissions from flights, which they say makes up more 80 per cent of the airport’s current emissions.

Hannah Lawrence from Stay Grounded said: “Luton Airport’s greenwashing adverts justify its expansion on a totally false premise of environmental responsibility, using “green” language and completely failing to mention the huge climate impacts of millions of additional flights.

“We hope the ASA will rule against these ads promptly, but verdicts against adverts that people have already seen is too little, too late. We need an urgent ban on airline advertising and greenwash alongside measures to reduce the number of flights that take off in a fair and equitable way.“

This comes ahead of the Planning Inspectorate’s decision next month to decide if the airport can expand from 18 million passengers a year to 32 million.

The complaint has been signed by eight environmental groups including Badvertising, Adfree Cities, Stay Grounded and Possible.

And it is not just large pressure groups pushing back on these adverts. Andrew Lambourne from the Luton And District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (LADACAN) community group said: "Luton Airport's misleading marketing should be stopped in its tracks, as should its expansion plans. There's no such thing as "green growth" for an airport, and these ads make empty promises about environmental standards while conveniently failing to mention the massive increase in pollution from additional flights if the expansion goes ahead.

“The ads are distorting the process and should be immediately removed."