THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS Authority for Ireland (ASAI) has upheld a complaint against SSE Airtricity adverts claiming that the company provides “100% green energy” and has advised that the ads should be changed.
The authority, which released its latest complaints bulletin today, received three complaints against SSE Airtricity.
The ASAI noted that all energy suppliers purchased the energy supplied to their customers from a single energy market that was made up of a mix of both renewable (green) and non-renewable (fossil fuel) sources.
The authority explained that energy suppliers could purchase Guarantee of Origin certificates from other suppliers in Europe that had more renewable energy than Ireland, which allowed them to claim that their energy was 100% green.
“This meant that the fuel mix shown by suppliers could have a higher percentage share of renewable energy sources than existed in the actual physical generation distributed to end customers via the grid in Ireland,” the authority stated.
“Electricity which was provided to end users’ premises from the national grid was comprised of electricity generated from a mix of fuel sources, both non-renewable sources and renewable energy.”
The ASAI found that while Guarantee of Origin certificates were recognised by the European Commission and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, the adverts claiming to deliver 100% green electricity “had the potential to mislead” customers.
The authority advised that the “advertising should not reappear in its current form”.
The bulletin also upheld a complaint against Aldi for adverts showing a family who had saved €264 when they changed supermarkets and began shopping at Aldi.
A complaint by Tesco Ireland noted that the shopping completed by the featured couple took place between 3 and 30 May 2021 and that prices were then compared with Dunnes/SuperValu on 17 June.
The weeks that elapsed after the last shop for the campaign, and the six weeks after the date of the first shop were found to have factored into these savings.
The ASAI noted that food prices would have changed significantly in this period and that it was misleading to compare prices in different supermarkets with a gap of almost three weeks.
The authority stated that the advertising should not appear in its current form.
Two issues in a single complaint against Whiteclaw Hard Seltzer were also upheld by the ASAI in relation to an advert on Facebook.
The advert encouraged users to comment on the post for a chance to win access to a festival but did not disclose that the comment randomly selected as the winner could be drawn from Whiteclaw’s Instagram page.
The ASAI deemed the advert to be misleading and also noted that promotions involving alcohol should state that entry is restricted to over 18’s and that prizes will only be awarded to those over 18.
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