Europe To Enforce ‘This Car Will Warm World’ Warnings?

The New York Times has an article that reports that the EU has proposed that car advertisements in Europe carry “tobacco-style” labels, warning of the environmental impact the car causes. Up to 20 percent of the space or time would have to be set aside for information on a car’s fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The NYT reports that the ad industry’s response is that it’s more important that we keep advertising in the same way and therefore keep the ad and media industries alive than we keep the planet cooler and therefore the rest of us alive:

Automakers account for more than $8.6 billion a year in annual ad spending in Western Europe, according to the European Association of Communications Agencies, a trade organization based in Brussels for the marketing industry. Lobbyists argue that some of that could dry up, hurting carmakers, ad agencies and media owners, if marketers were required to place a prominent environmental warning in their ads.

“The European Parliament’s proposals will disincentivize car manufacturers from advertising, have a damaging effect on the media that rely on advertising for their revenues and will not in our view have much effect on consumer attitudes,” said Peta Buscombe, chief executive of the Advertising Association in Britain.

There you have it. Save advertising, not the world. Our contempt for the industry just gets greater.

Europe Proposes Warnings for Auto Ads - New York Times