Framing advertising, one of the battlegrounds of the ecological transition?

• 22 associations published on Tuesday a report aiming to regulate the industry of the communication, with which they reproach to promote products harmful for the environment or to push to overconsumption.
• Among the measures recommended, those of framing advertising media, prohibiting advertising on products that emit greenhouse gases, or introducing a tax on advertising.
• The report is published a few days before the publication of the Citizens' Climate Convention proposals to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. Advertising management is one of the main drivers identified .

The subject was already on the rise before the health crisis linked to Covid-19. That of the need to better regulate advertising, to make it more compatible with the challenges of the ecological transition. In the viewfinder in particular, the boom of SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle), these cars high on legs, but also generally heavier and more emitting CO2 than sedans.

Just a year ago, as part of the Mobility Law, MPs Matthieu Orphelin and Delphine Batho, meeting today in the Ecology Democracy and Solidarity group (EDS), proposed to ban "all advertising relating to vehicles individuals with carbon dioxide emissions greater than 60 grams per kilometer ”. The amendment was rejected.

Just before the conclusions of the Citizens' Climate Convention

"A whole series of amendments have also been tabled within the framework of the law on the fight against waste and the circular economy [adopted at the beginning of 2020]", recalls Renaud Fossard, head of the Spim program (Advertising systems and influence multinationals) launched in 2016 by the NGOs Friends of the Earth, Resistance to advertising aggression and Communication without borders. "One aimed to prevent the incitement to waste advocated by certain advertisements, another to ban goodies, yet another to ban Black Friday ...," he lists. Again, none of these proposals was retained in law. "

Spim is not discouraged, however, and returns to the charge this Tuesday afternoon with the report "Big corp: framing advertising and the influence of multinationals", written with the contribution of 22 partner associations and university experts. A way to put the subject back on the carpet before the publication, the last weekend of June, of the final proposals of the 150 citizens drawn by lot from the Citizen Convention for the climate, charged by Emmanuel Macron to think about the solutions to drop by 40 % of our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Advertising management should be one of the strong levers identified by this agreement which, according to the first measures that leaked in mid-April, would request a ban , from 2023, advertising on products that emit the most greenhouse gases.

Extending the Evin law to “climate” issues

In other words, a sort of Evin Law for the climate. This, promulgated in January 1991, having prohibited any propaganda or direct or indirect advertising in favor of tobacco and severely limited that for alcoholic beverages. The proposal also appears in the Big Corp report, which lists products and offers that may be affected. So SUVs, but also short-distance air travel, fast food offers which, in addition to causing health problems, also generate a quantity of waste, disposable plastic water bottles, the fast-food clothing industry -fashion or even smartphones.

A proposal that risks once again being rejected? Renaud Fossard notes however the change in recent months. "Until then, the proposed amendments to regulate advertising were rejected by the government on the grounds that it could not be infringed, from a legal point of view, on the freedom to undertake businesses," he begins. . But on January 31, the Constitutional Council effected a reversal of jurisprudence by explaining that this freedom to undertake could be undermined for environmental reasons. "

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Our lines of proposals:
➡️ put an end to the main drifts (pub screens, fast-food ...)
➡️ institute independent regulation of corporate speeches
➡️ initiate economic reforms to reduce commercial pressure
➡️ support independent speeches pic .twitter.com / YkwRvCQJRL

Fight also against the multiplication of supports

Another project pointed out in the Big Corp report is that of the framing of advertising media, "which have been deployed in all directions in society without the necessary rules to supervise their development. These supports have their environmental impacts. “The 30 kg of prospectuses received each year per household represent 1/4 of the paper consumed in France and a reprocessing cost equivalent to 200 euros per year per household, recalls the report. As for digital advertising panels, they consume thirteen times more electricity than the most energy-consuming non-digital street furniture. But they are also increasingly intrusive and aggressive, continues Renaud Fossart, who quotes backlit advertisements, animated screens visible in public space, tags on the ground, giant tarpaulins on historic monuments. The authors of the report then recommend, among other things, to create sanctuaries in the city and, on the rest of the urban areas, to limit the size [50 x70cm maximum] and the average density of advertising media [one per 2,000 inhabitants in the area urban].

"Better control of advertising messages"

Better management of advertising media and an Evin climate law are the two priorities set by Spim. "Those tackling the most unacceptable drifts", specifies Renaud Foissart. But this “Big Corp” report recommends a more in-depth reform of advertising in France, so that it is truly up to the challenges. Mathilde Dupré, co-director of the Veblen Institute, a think-tank dedicated to ecological transition, invites us to get out of the classic economic conception that we give publicity: "This idea that it only delivers information for guide consumer choice and redistribute market share in a given sector without increasing its size, she says. In reality, the challenge is also to directly influence the tastes and aspirations of individuals, create new needs, encourage consumers to prematurely replace products that are still functional. A study by Ademe (Environment and Energy Management Agency)
thus showed that 88% of mobile phones were replaced while they were still working ”. The report also targets corporate advertising - "which does not sell a product but defends the brand image" - or even corporate communication, "which seeks to exert political influence" to prevent the emergence of binding standards .

In this context, "these are all the advertising messages that should not be banned, but at least be able to regulate," says Renaud Foissart. This is already the role today of the Professional Advertising Regulation Authority (ARPP). "The rules it has established are not bad, but they do not always apply them," regrets the head of the Spim program, who takes as an example the Cdiscount advertising campaign, validated by the ARPP, which had brought out its hinges Ademe in October 2018 on the grounds that it encouraged overconsumption. "The problem with ARPP is that it brings together advertisers, agencies and advertising management," says Renaud Foissart. Clearly, it is self-regulating. We need a truly independent authority, similar to the CSA. "

A tax on advertising revenue?

In these recommendations, the Big Corp report also invites us to look into the introduction of an advertising tax. The challenge is again ecological - reduce the commercial pressure that weighs on citizens and thus limit overconsumption - but not only. "The revenue generated could be partially redistributed to the media to support their dependence, a system that works very well in Sweden, or even allow businesses and civic associations to also have access to the advertising market," suggests Renaud Foissart. This is another figure from the report: "600 companies alone hold 80% of advertising space in France".

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