Then, in 2021, Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) objected to Nexo’s commercial that claimed that the car was ‘so beautifully clean’ that it ‘purifies the air as it goes’. The ad added that if 10,000 Nexos were out on the road, carbon emission reduction would be ‘equivalent to planting 60,000 trees’.
ASA found that the car does, indeed, filter incoming air. But hang on. It still released pollutants from its tyres and brakes, the latter being a major source of particulate matter. So, the ad, said ASA, is misleading – the Nexo does pollute unlike what Hyundai says.
Which takes us beyond ‘greenwashing’ – the practice of making misleading environmental claims (read: lies) – to exaggerations (read: lies) made in ads across products like beauty care (fairness creams), healthcare (energy drinks), services (education centres) and hospitality (holiday packages). The question is, how much do consumers factor in the exaggerations? Do they take them for granted? Or have they started taking them literally? This column, we guarantee, will make you decide.