From March, car advertising in France is to be supplemented with information on environmentally friendly alternatives for getting around. There are three short standard sentences that remind you of the possibility that you can also reach your destination on foot, by bike or by public transport, and you could also think about car sharing. You can make fun of this action. Or be happy about a step in the right direction.
It will no longer surprise anyone today that private transport by car is not an environmentally friendly mode of transport, and yet it is important to keep this in mind. Even smokers know that tobacco smoke is not healthy, and yet the shocking images on the packages (“Smoking reduces your fertility”, “Smoking causes 9 out of 10 lung carcinomas”) sometimes have a deterrent effect. They alone are unlikely to get anyone to quit smoking, but they may occasionally prevent smoking careers from taking off.
Cars and cigarettes are alike: both are addictive. Awareness is therefore important
Now the consequences of the climate crisis are far more difficult to grasp than those of cigarette smoke. But comparing cars and cigarettes is helpful, because both are addictive. Therefore, one should also point out the consequences of buying a car. And relentlessly.
The shock images of the climate crisis are not needed for this, especially since it is not yet clear what exactly will happen in the next few years. And what did you want to show? Pictures from the flooded Ahr valley, forest fires in Siberia or sinking islands? That would be dishonest, because such events are becoming more likely due to the heating of the atmosphere, but it can never be said with certainty whether they were triggered in detail.
But how about finally honest information on consumption and CO₂ emissions? Not just calculated, but measured ruthlessly over the entire life cycle of a car. The whole thing prominently placed on posters, newspaper ads, in TV and internet advertising, not hidden in the small print.
Surely that would not cause the number of new registrations to collapse or make combustion engines unsaleable. But it should be the duty to make customers aware of the consequences when buying harmful products. That’s not nice – but necessary.