The Government banned tobacco ads – now it should ban advertising campaigns for petrol and diesel vehicles, health and environmental experts say.

Cars burning petrol and diesel risk our health by creating air pollution, which causes cardio and lung disease and climate change.

An advertising ban could be the first step towards an outright sales ban, said University of Otago public health researcher Nick Wilson​.

Many countries – including Canada, Norway and the UK – have set dates after which petrol and diesel cars can no longer be sold.

“It does seem a bit out of step that you declare a climate emergency and you allow these vehicles to be advertised and imported without any restrictions… The advertisements are normalising this whole range of vehicles.”

Wilson was particularly concerned about advertising that encourages consumers to buy larger vehicles – per kilometre, utes can emit more than twice the carbon pollution of a smaller car, his research noted.

“It is completely legitimate to have a ute… if you’re a tradesperson, but these are being marketed for people to drive around town and do their supermarket shopping in. It makes no sense,” he said.

“These are advertised as beasts – [they] appeal to male egos. It’s this notion that you’re buying this sort of wild animal-type thing… For that guy who’s trapped in suburbia, he can fantasise that he’s doing something wild and exciting by driving these things.”

The marketing of large cars promotes the vehicles and the consumption of petrol as exciting and manly, experts say.
Studies have found that advertising does cause us to spend more than we would have. Wilson agreed: “Why would an industry spend millions of dollars advertising a product if it didn’t improve sales?”

He said the historical ban on tobacco advertising, one of a number of initiatives that successfully lowered smoking rates, suggested marketing restrictions could influence consumer behaviour and reduce carbon emissions. Last year, the Government extended the ban to include adverts for vaping.

“It is a bit different from tobacco in that you’re still allowing one form of the market, the growing part of the market,” he added. “The advertisers can still spend money, it’ll just be on hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles.”

Because hybrids – which have a traditional engine plus an electric motor and batteries – are more efficient than conventional cars (which only have internal combustion engines), they could be phased into the advertising ban at a later date.

Stuff is a member of the Climate Leaders Coalition and its website and newspapers regularly advertise and review cars. There are no plans at this time to restrict vehicle advertising, said group sales director Steven Hutton​.

“Many of our advertisers already promote efficient cars, and we expect this trend to continue as electric vehicle technology and cars become more accessible and affordable for all.”

To get consumers to alter their behaviour, the government banned tobacco advertising. Should traditional cars be next?
Canadian environmental researcher Simon Dalby​, of the University of Waterloo, has also proposed using tobacco-like restrictions on cars, in light of the climate crisis.

“If we dealt with one form of burning by banning the advertising of it, could we do it with the other one?”

He’s even joked about putting health warnings and horrific imagery on the paintwork of internal combustion engine vehicles. “You can still buy one of these things, but you have to drive around with pictures of disasters – would that deter people?”

After a ban, advertisers may be able to convince the public that electric vehicles are “even cooler” than diesel and petrol cars, he added. “Supposedly the big gas-guzzling engines were all about performance, where in fact both the hybrids and particularly the electric vehicles are actually faster.”

To decarbonise, we must redesign our cities to boost public and active transport, Dalby said. “[An advertising ban] would move that along. It would begin to change the cultural understanding of vehicles and their role in our lives… That said, it would play out rather differently in different societies. It’s also a generational thing too.”

Exhaust causes health issues and climate change. On average, larger cars emit twice the emissions of a small vehicle.
Neither the advertising nor the car industry associations were keen on the concept.

Association of NZ Advertisers chief executive Lindsay Mouat​ said it was “ridiculous” to compare cigarettes and cars, though he did not dispute that vehicle exhaust causes heart and lung damage.

“If you really want to make a decision about something, you have to make a decision that it’s illegal to sell,” he added. “We could look at the whole role of the media industry, not just advertising… It’s very easy to target advertising as a silver bullet to address an issue.”

Mouat disputed the idea that advertising creates demand, saying it influences people’s choice of brand instead. Responding to the point that, under a ban, companies could promote their brands, though would be required to use hybrids and electric vehicles to do so, he said: “They’re also selling cars that aren’t in that situation… It’s not just about the brand, it’s about the model as well.”

As electric motors are more efficient at converting fuel into motion, electric cars can be more powerful than gas guzzlers.
Asked about the role advertisers should play in the low-carbon transition, Mouat asked: “Who is the advertising industry advertising for?”

He said agencies are already marketing electric and hybrid cars as well as internal combustion engine vehicles. “What drives this change is actually consumers saying, I want a different alternative.”

Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford​ said introducing an advertising ban, without also setting a sales ban for internal combustion engine cars, would not be a positive policy.

“There may come a time somewhere down the track when banning advertising could be looked at but our view [is] there needs to be other measures adopted first – not the least, a pending internal combustion engine ban needs to be confirmed,” he added.

The car industry supports the resurrection of the “feebate” scheme, which would make low-emissions vehicles cheaper and gas guzzlers more expensive. NZ First put a kibosh on the policy last year.

The advertising industry also regulates itself through the Advertising Standards Authority. If anyone thinks an advert breaches the independent body’s standards, they can lay a complaint.

Authority chief executive Hilary Souter​ said sustainability has been a growing concern for complainants in recent years, though Souter doesn’t believe anyone has proposed a new standard to promote climate-responsible advertising.

The authority has specific codes guiding the marketing of products and services that can cause social harm, such as alcohol and gambling. These are categories that are already subject to legislation, Souter said, but where the industry has agreed to go “over and above what the law says”.

She said climate legislation may prompt new standards, but the pervasiveness of greenhouse gases in goods and services is a thorny issue.

“What does that mean for advertising milk versus advertising cars versus advertising Air New Zealand?” she said. “Just because it’s complicated doesn’t mean it may not be something that evolves.”

However, people can complain about any socially irresponsible advertising through the general advertising standards codes, Souter said. “The overarching rules are pretty similar: be truthful, be responsible. What responsibility looks like obviously changes.”