ASA Ruling on 4Air LLC

4AIR describes itself as a “sustainability solutions program dedicated to aviation”. In November 2022, a paid-for Google ad for 4AIR was seen which stated, “Eco-Friendly Aviation – Future of Sustainable Aviation” and “Learn How To Turn Flying Into A Force For Good With A 4AIR Rating. Industry-Leading Standard For Sustainability In Private Aviation. Sustainability. Aviation Industry.” The Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) challenged whether the ad gave a misleading impression of the environmental impact of the service. By ruling of August 30, 2023, the ASA upheld the challenge. The CAP Code required that absolute environmental claims be supported by a high level of substantiation. SAF reduces emissions but does not eliminate them. The claims “Eco-Friendly Aviation”, “Sustainable Aviation” and “Turn Flying Into A Force For Good” would be understood by businesses to mean that 4AIR offered services that could ensure aviation operations did not cause environmental damage. Businesses would also understand from the claims that, by using 4AIR’s services, their business would be capable of having an immediate positive impact on the environment. The ASA therefore expected to see a high level of evidence that substantiated the claims, taking into account the full life cycle of the products and services associated with 4AIR’s services. Given those services were directly linked with aviation, that meant the full life cycle of aviation operations, even though 4AIR did not itself operate aircraft. Aviation, even with the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, produced high levels of CO2 and non-CO2 emissions which contributed to climate change. Further, the results of research into future aircraft technologies would not be delivered until decades into the future. Support of such an initiative via 4AIR was not therefore adequate substantiation to evidence the claim “Turn Flying Into A Force For Good” as it would be understood in context. Further, there were no initiatives or commercially viable technologies within the aviation industry which would adequately substantiate absolute claims such as “Eco-friendly Aviation” and “Sustainable Aviation” as businesses would interpret them in context. The claims were therefore likely to mislead businesses in relation to 4AIR’s capability to ensure that aviation operations which purchased its services did not negatively impact the environment. The ad therefore breached the Code. The ASA ruled that the ad must not appear again in the form complained about. The ASA told 4AIR to ensure it did not mislead businesses by understating the environmental impact of their service, including by using absolute claims such as “Eco-Friendly Aviation”, “Sustainable Aviation”, and “Turn Flying Into A Force For Good”. This Ruling formed part of a wider piece of work on climate change and the environment. The ad was identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by the ASA’s Active Ad Monitoring system, which used AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules.