The British advertising regulatory authority has recently prohibited advertising from a start-up of the total multinationalgia. The company is simply accused of Greenwashing, due to a commercial announcement deemed misleading.
A misleading advertising
As a reminder, Greenwashing (or Ecoblachinating) is a communication process whose objective is to give itself a deceptive image in terms of ecological responsibility. In recent decades, many companies have been guilty of Greenwashing, for example the oil tanker Shell and its CO2 capture factory, in 2022. In an opinion published on April 9, 2025, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has pointed out another great oil maker: Totalenergies.
Indeed, the advertising regulator in the United Kingdom explains that it has ordered to ban advertising of the French multinational. In its communication, Totalenergies insisted on its investments in low carbon energies when in reality, most of its income come from fossil fuels.
More specifically, the advertising in question has appeared in a series called “Road to Carbon Neutral”, on the social networks of the Nash Renewable start-up. Belonging to Totalenergies since 2023, this company aims to optimize the conditions for the operating of projects relating to the production of renewable electricity. However, the ASA criticized the video for being misleading because the latter presented totalnergies as a Pioneer of low carbon energies for over a century.
Credit: ISTOCK
-Credits: Boy Wirat / Istock
A measure to protect consumers
« Adfree Cities [organisme ayant saisi l’ASA, NDLR] Contested the deceptive nature of advertising, as it omitted important information on the overall environmental impact of totalnergies activities. »»can we read in the opinion.
It turns out that the ASA was not tender in its judgment. Indeed, authority did not hesitate to recall that 90% of group sales were petroleum and gas products And that 68.3% of its expenses concerned fossil fuels. The ban on advertising video therefore aims to avoid misleading consumers While more and more, they feel concerned by the environmental impact of activities relating to products and services related to strongly carbon energies.
Totalnergies, however, responded to this ban by indicating that often its communication incorporates information about its energy mix. Often controversial and customary in terms of greenwashingthe French multinational is one of the private groups most committed to the financing and exploitation of fossil fuels on a global scale. However, note that the group still has increased its investments in renewable energies and low carbon in recent years.
