Description
The Dutch Advertising Code Committee (RCC) has ruled that a number of expressions by travel company Corendon on its website violate the Environmental Advertising Code (MRC) and/or the Sustainability Advertising Code (CDR) in July 2023. Initially, the RCC rejected Grandparents for Climate (Grootouders voor het Klimaat in Dutch, GvhK) and Fossil Free Advertising's complaint, but the Appeals Tribunal found that the complaint had to be reassessed because the RCC had wrongly excluded the expressions on Corendon's website in its ruling.
Making the world even more beautiful together is misleading
Under the heading "Making the world even more beautiful together", Corendon wrote on its website: "As a tour operator, airline and hotel organisation, we bear a great responsibility for a more sustainable form of holidaymaking. Therefore, we take various measures to ensure that our holiday destinations remain as beautiful as they are now, and that we maintain a liveable world. So that future generations can also broaden their horizons."
According to Grandparents for Climate, Corendon cannot possibly make this happen. After all, greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft cannot be influenced by Corendon. Corendon argues in its defence that their website texts are no advertising, but the RCC does not go along with this. The Committee finds that it 'unmistakably involves public (in)direct advertisement of Corendon's services'. It also finds that Corendon should have had to demonstrate that the measures it takes are sufficient to ensure that its holiday destinations remain as beautiful as they are now and we maintain a liveable world. 'However, the defendant has failed to do so,' they said.
Air travel remains polluting regardless of "more sustainable accommodation"
Elsewhere on the website, Corendon praises their "more sustainable accommodation" under the heading "Do you want a conscious holiday?". Frans Vollenbroek, spokesman for the GvhK: 'This should make the would-be passenger feel that they are doing good, but the elephant in the room is the CO2 emissions needed to reach that accommodation. That remains unmentioned.' Again, the RCC agrees with the petitioners: 'the absolute phrase "Do you want to go on a conscious holiday?" is not compatible with CO2 emissions.'
CO2 offsetting highly controversial
Corendon also offers CO2 compensation on its website, by paying extra to plant trees. Vollenbroek: 'If these trees are planted at all, they grow very slowly, taking decades to capture the CO2 released during air travel.' Charlotte Braat, who has been involved in previous RCC cases against airlines on behalf of Advertising Fossil Free, adds that CO2 offsetting is highly controversial anyway. 'You can question whether it is the most fair way of using our scarce space, planting trees to offset luxury holiday flights. Additionally, research shows time and again that CO2 offsetting does not work.'
Advertising Fossil Free therefore wants to go one step further: 'The airline industry misleads their customers with their sunny advertisements and green promises. But growth of the aviation sector is obviously not sustainable, there are simply no technical means to make it possible now or soon. To prevent deception, we need a ban on fossil advertisements just as tobacco advertising is banned.'
