German supermarket chain ALDI has been made to remove in-store ads that claim its freezers are "powered by 100% renewable electricity".
The sticker ads placed on freezer food cabinets have been found by advertising watchdog Ad Standards to be misleading advertising.
The complaint said the ads misrepresents the capability of renewable energy supplies.
"Even if Aldi had their own renewable plus gas power system, it would not be 100% renewable (due to the gas component). But Aldi does not have a dedicated renewable/gas system for its store in Westfield Hornsby, which is where the ad was seen," the complaint stated.
"This is gross deception of the community. It prevents honest, meaningful progress toward true zero carbon energy use. It misleads consumers."
In response Aldi denied the allegations because the claim had been verified by the Australian Government Clean Energy Regulator (CER).
Aldi's operations became 100% renewable in June 2021 through government approved processes of on-site solar panels, power purchase agreements with wind farms and large-scale generation certificates.
"All three practices are widely known and accepted means by which businesses in Australia can reach their renewable energy targets," a spokesperson from Aldi said.
"As a result, any claims made in terms of progress on climate related commitments can be substantiated.
"In terms of the actual artwork, ALDI wishes to point out that headline is written in clear, plain and specific language that can be clearly understood by consumers. It does not contain a fine print disclaimer to qualify the representation as ALDI is of the view that the dominant message can stand alone without being misleading."
But while the Ad Standards panel noted that Aldi generates and purchases renewable energy in an equivalent amount to what is used by their stores.
The Panel also noted that Aldi stores are still connected to the electricity grid, and the actual electricity used by the freezers in the Aldi stores would not be 100% renewable.
"The average consumer in the target market would not understand the statement, 'powered by 100% renewable energy' to mean that the company overall is committed to using 100% renewable energy," the Panel stated.
"While the advertisement includes a QR code linking to further information, the average consumer may not scan the code and is likely to be misled.
"To avoid misleading or deceiving consumers a disclaimer should be clearly displayed on the advertisement informing consumers that Aldi uses power purchase agreements and large-scale generation certificates to achieve 100% renewable energy status under the Corporate Emissions Reduction Transparency Framework."
As a result, the Panel considered that an average consumer in the target market would be misled or deceived by the environmental claim and the ad breached AANA Environmental Code\1 Truthful and Factual.
The advertiser has advised stores to remove the content.
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