European Automakers Are Feeling the Heat
While the never-ending barrage of automobile advertising is as shameless as ever here in the States, European automakers are beginning to recognize that their product is perceived as harmful and destructive, not unlike cigarettes or trans-fats. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Amid growing alarm over climate change and a trend in Europe toward faster, heavier cars, a group representing Europe's leading advertising agencies has drafted guidelines covering issues such as safety and the environment that -- if adopted -- would establish basic principles for ad agencies to follow when promoting cars.
Among the suggested principles in his group's draft guidelines: "Speed or acceleration claims should not be the main message of an advertisement." Adds Mr. Lyle, "We've seen regulation on tobacco, we're beginning to see it on food advertising...if the discussion on climate change carries on, we may see something on car advertising as well."
Of course, this realization doesn't mean that automakers are necessarily going to do anything to change the product -- just the way they sell it.
Photo of storm clouds over the Autobahn: Hans Van Reenan/Flickr
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
Friday’s Headlines Got Served
Another day, another GOP lawsuit trying to overturn a Biden administration climate change rule.
Disabled People Are Dying in America’s Crosswalks — But We’re Not Counting Them
The data on traffic fatalities and injuries doesn’t account for their needs or even count them. Better data would enable better solutions.
LA: Automated Enforcement Coming Soon to a Bus Lane Near You
Metro is already installing on-bus cameras. Soon comes testing, outreach, then warning tickets. Wilshire/5th/6th and La Brea will be the first bus routes in the bus lane enforcement program.
Talking Headways Podcast: Charging Up Transportation
This week, we talk to the great Gabe Klein, executive director of President Biden's Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (and a former Streetsblog board member), about curbside electrification.
Why Does the Vision Zero Movement Stop At the Edge of the Road?
U.S. car crash deaths are nearly 10 percent higher if you count collisions that happen just outside the right of way. So why don't off-road deaths get more air time among advocates?
