TotalEnergies’ Ad Found ‘Misleading’ Over Sustainability Claim
- NGO submitted South Africa’s first greenwashing ad complaint
- South African regulator’s finding follows ad crackdown in UK
The South African complaint stems from Fossil Free SA’s effort to ban fossil fuel companies from advertising.
Photographer: Dwayne Senior/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A South African advertising regulator found TotalEnergies SE made a “misleading” claim over its commitment to sustainable development, marking the first time a challenge of this kind has been made in the country.
Fossil Free SA argued TotalEnergies is “lying to the public” about the nature of its business in a complaint filed with the Advertising Regulatory Board. The environmental group cited a promotion involving South African National Parks in which the French oil major states it’s “committed to sustainable development and environmental protection,” according to a copy of the document.