Despite the federal government forecasting transport will be the highest emitting sector by 2030, the rapid growth in advertising of highly polluting SUVs is undermining Australia’s efforts to decarbonise the passenger vehicle fleet, according to a new report by Comms Declare.
The report – title Rammed The advertising that’s killing our climate goals – says advertising of gas-guzzling SUVs jumped 29% from 2022 to 2023, up $28 million to $125 million, well ahead of the 5.6% increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Magazine advertising for the segment tripled, while radio and outdoor advertising more than doubled. All while the federal government consulted on vehicle efficiency standards.
Comms Declare conducted an analysis of Standard Media Index (SMI) data which revealed that car importers are undermining government attempts to reduce emissions by heavily marketing the most polluting, profitable vehicles.
“Car importers are pushing sales of ever-larger gas guzzlers while motorists are being kept in the dark about the running costs.” said Comms Declare founder Belinda Noble.
“To ensure the new fuel efficiency laws help people save money on petrol and stop greenwashing, car importers must be forced to show whether cars meet the NEVS requirement up front, on their ads and websites.”
Dr Chris Jones, president of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association agrees.
“It’s absolutely essential when you’re advertising a car that you disclose the emissions up front. Just like cigarette advertising, people should be aware that they’re buying a potentially dangerous product – dangerous for the planet and dangerous for pedestrians.” said Jones.
SUV ad spend going up while EV ad spend goes down.
Over the longer term, the report found that spend on advertising SUVs has increased by 59% since 2010 coinciding with a 188% increase in sales resulting in SUVs now making up 56% of the light vehicle market compared to just 22.7% in 2010.
Comms Declare says money spent on light commercial vehicle (LCV) advertising jumped a whopping 342% over the same period. In contrast passenger car advertising slumped 92%, with sales also plunging 64% (57% to 17% of the market).
And legacy car companies are showing little real interest in boosting EV sales with advertising of low emissions vehicles (EVs, hybrids and micro cars) falling by 38% since 2010.
Noble says the government needs to collect data on car ads, especially online ads and that this should be part of the NVES (New Vehicle Efficiency Standard).
“Around 95% of car buyers do their research online but car ads and importer websites do not have to disclose any fuel efficiency information, like they do in countries such as France and Denmark,” says Noble.
Comms declare says passenger cars and light commercial vehicles contribute 60% of Australia’s transport emissions and over 10% of Australia’s total emissions. The IPCC3 and the IEA4 have both found decreasing demand for high emissions products is an important part of any plan for net zero, along with tax, law and infrastructure changes.
Alarming new climate research highlights urgent need for a fossil advertising ban
The research showing that fossil car companies are beaming even more manipulative fossil car advertising into the homes of millions of people suggests that fossil car companies are actively sabotaging decarbonisation efforts and putting climate targets at risk.
This issue has become even more important after recent report from the Guardian showed that most IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) scientists expect the global warming to “blast past the 1.5C target”.
The Guardian report also found that almost 80% of scientists expect a rise of at least 2.5C above preindustrial levels which is considered a catastrophic level of heating.
With an average lifespan of around 15 years, the transport sector is going to take a lot longer to decarbonise than most politicians realise. It’s why it’s so critical we accelerate the uptake of new EVs right now and urgently phase out new ICE vehicle sales.
This is virtually impossible as long as fossil car companies have free range to continue using manipulative advertising to boost their sales.
Time for a fossil car ad ban?
Once it became blatantly obvious that smoking was not only bad for smokers but also everyone else in the vicinity, countries around the world began to ban the advertising of cigarettes and banned smoking from workplaces, schools and other public spaces.
With the shear volume of fossil car pollution being pumped into our city air, the constant noise pollution, and the high emissions accelerating the climate crisis, the case can be made that like cigarettes, advertising of fossil cars should be banned. When framed in that way, it is in fact shocking that in 2024 fossil car advertising is still legal at all.
During the recent “debate” around the introduction of a vehicle pollution standard in Australia, one of the key messages pushed by the fossil car lobby (Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries) was that fossil car companies are simply responding to what customers want, as though there’s some kind of natural demand for fossil powered vehicles.
If that were the case, why do these companies need to spend over $500 per vehicle convincing people to buy them? Could they maintain their sales numbers without advertising?
In a real market, “authentic demand” (as opposed to artificial demand) is driven by word-of-mouth as people talk to each other about the pros and cons particular products.
We generally trust the recommendations and advice on products from family and friends over strangers who may or may not be receiving some kind of incentive or commissions behind their recommendations.
If the fossil car industry really is just “giving people what they want” maybe they should put their money where their mouth is and find out if people still want their vehicles without paid advertising campaigns.
Daniel Bleakley is a clean technology researcher and advocate with a background in engineering and business. He has a strong interest in electric vehicles, renewable energy, manufacturing and public policy.