Luton airport advertising 'misleading' - watchdog

Advertising by Luton airport was misleading, the regulator has ruled.

The promotional material that attracted complaints contained references to environmental limits and airport expansion by Luton Rising, the airport's owner.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the messaging, which featured in a magazine and on a London Underground poster, "omitted significant information".

Luton Rising, which is owned by Luton Council, had defended the advertising.

Details of the ASA investigation have been outlined in a written ruling.

The ASA said the magazine advertisement included text that said: “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 text alongside Luton Rising's logo was “our airport, our community, our planet”.

The ASA said the poster advertisement featured similar claims.

Complainants included Adfree Cities, an organisation which challenges "corporate outdoor advertising", and the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport.

They argued that the advertisements were misleading because they "omitted significant information" about the "environmental impact of the expansion".

The ASA upheld the complaints and ruled that the advertisements were misleading.

It said the advertisements "must not appear again in the form complained of", and added: "We told London Luton Airport Ltd t/a Luton Rising to ensure future claims were adequately qualified and did not omit material information about the environmental impact of London Luton Airport’s expansion."

The ruling said the "basis of environmental claims" had to be clear, and "unqualified claims could mislead" if they omitted "significant information".

It indicated that information relating to air traffic emissions had been omitted.

That exclusion was "material information" likely to "affect people’s understanding" of the overall message.

The ruling added: "We concluded the ads omitted significant information and were therefore misleading."

Luton Rising said the purpose of the advertising was to show that "mitigating environmental impacts were central to the airport’s expansion plans".

It added: "A fundamental part of their plan was to grow London Luton Airport sustainably, and not at the expense of the environment.

"If expansion was approved, Luton Rising would implement its Green Controlled Growth Framework which placed limits on noise, air quality, emissions from the airport’s operations and road traffic that would halt expansion if breached or there was a risk they might be breached."

Luton Rising argued that such an approach was "summarised" in the advertising.

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