Advertising for climate killers: How TV and YouTube advertising violates the German Interstate Media Treaty

Advertising for climate killers: How TV and YouTube advertising violates the German Interstate Media Treaty
(Original title: Reklame für Klimakiller- Wie Fernseh- und YouTube-Werbung den Medienstaatsvertrag verletzt)
By Uwe Krüger, Katharina Forstmair, Alexandra Hilpert, Laurie Stührenberg on behalf of the Otto Brenner Stiftung

"Section 8 of the [German] Interstate Media Treaty prohibits advertising for behavior that “endangers the protection of the environment significantly”. The study shows that current advertising practice violates this point.

A content analysis of almost 10,000 commercials from five TV stations and 20 YouTube channels shows that about one third of all commercials advertises goods that are harmful to the climate.

The advertising industry often works with strategies that make the harmfulness of the products to the climate invisible or even turn it into the opposite (greenwashing).

Media Policymakers have various regulatory measures at their disposal to remedy this situation, including advertising bans for specific product groups."