The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint about a claim of sustainability made in an HX Hurtigruten Expeditions advert, promoting a fly-cruise in Norway.
The ad, seen in the digital version of a national newspaper in March, featured the headline claim “Free flights to Svalbard and more”.
Further text stated: “Selected Svalbard cruises with free flights […] Since 1896, we’ve been the leaders in sustainable expeditions.”
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The complainant, who believed the claim “sustainable expeditions” gave a misleading impression of the advertised expeditions’ environmental impact, challenged whether it was misleading and could be substantiated.
HX told the advertising watchdog that, in its view, an average consumer would not have understood the claim “sustainable expeditions” as including flights.
The word “expedition” had much stronger associations with travel by land or sea, and in the context of an ad for an expedition cruise company would have been interpreted as referring to the cruise component of the trip, according to HX.
It argued that the use of an image of a cruise ship in the ad, along with the text “Sail This Summer”, “Selected Svalbard Cruises” and “comfortable, purpose-built ships”, made it clear the ad was for a cruise company.
Additionally, HX said it was clear the free flight was included as a time limited offer, so the claim would be understood as meaning Hurtigruten’s expedition cruises, excluding flights, were sustainable.
HX told the ASA that the claim “sustainable” did not mean the cruises had no environmental impact whatsoever; moreover, that their environmental impact was relatively low in the context of other cruise lines.
It outlined a range of its eco-credentials, including the fact it had launched the world’s first hybrid electric cruise ship, and was the first expedition cruise company to banish polluting heavy fuel oil from its fleet and the first to ban single use plastic.
However, the ASA upheld the complaint, saying that “the basis of environmental claims must be clear, and that absolute environmental claims must be supported by a high level of substantiation”.
“Environmental claims must be based on the full life cycle of the advertised product, unless the ad stated otherwise,” said the ASA ruling.
It considered that consumers would interpret the term “expeditions” as meaning the holiday packages offered from Svalbard were likely to include a flight, irrespective of the time-limited free flight offer.
“We considered ‘sustainable expeditions’ was an absolute claim, which would be understood as referring to the full life cycle of a HX holiday, including travel to and from the destination location,” it added.
“While we acknowledged HX had taken steps to reduce the environmental impact of its cruises, those steps did not cover all aspects of their holiday packages, and were not referred to in the ad.
“For example, air travel, such as that required to take a HX cruise, produced high levels of both CO2 and non-CO2 emissions, which were making a substantial contribution to climate change.”
It concluded the ad had “misleadingly minimised” the impact of HX’s holidays and said it must not appear in that form again.
A spokesperson for HX said: “We acknowledge the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) decision regarding a single digital advert published in a UK national newspaper on 6 March 2024.
“Whilst we are disappointed with the outcome, we respect the ASA’s role in maintaining advertising integrity.
“Our team never intended to create a misleading message and remain wholly committed to championing sustainability in the expedition cruise sector.
“We understand that specific wording in this standalone advert could have been clearer, and we will continue to ensure our communications accurately reflect our sustainability efforts.
“We fully support regulation in this area, as it is crucial to preventing misinformation. At HX, we remain committed to advancing greener travel practices across our expedition fleet and leading by example in the cruise industry, particularly in regard to transparent ESG reporting.”