UK Advertising Watchdog: Malaysian Palm Oil Ads Misleading. Friends of the Earth Term The Ads 'A Complete Lie'
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) censured Wednesday commercials for Malaysian palm oil, saying they break the rules and are misleading.Two television advertisements for the Malaysia Palm Oil Council, which promotes the market expansion of Malaysian palm oil, wrongly imply the product is good for the environment, the authority said.
The ASA said the commercials breached rules on misleading advertising, evidence and environmental claims.
The first commercial shows a palm oil plantation while a voice-over says: 'Its trees give life and help our planet breathe, and give home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna.' This is likely to mislead viewers about the environmental benefits of oil palm plantations in comparison with native rainforest, the ASA said. The claim about flora and fauna is also likely to mislead, it said.
The second ad's voice-over says: 'Its trees give life and help our planet breathe. Its fruit provides vitamins for our bodies and energy for our daily lives.' The authority upheld two complaints about the second commercial lodged by the environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth.
'Because there was not a consensus that there was a net benefit to the environment from Malaysia's palm oil plantations, we concluded the ads were misleading,' the ASA said.
The Malaysia Palm Oil Council said plantations do not typically replace native rainforest, that they are customarily sustainable and that they support biodiversity.
Friends of the Earth biofuels campaigner Hannah Griffiths said: 'It is a complete lie to advertise palm oil as sustainably produced. It has devastating impacts on the environment and on local communities.' (CNNMoney.com)
***** Did our ads tell it as it is and are the UK folks just 'jealous' of our products? Or are we guilty of 'twisting the truth'? The latter seems quite plausible, considering that even our government has shown in the past that it is very capable of bending facts, spinning untruths and making outrageous claims.
Image - Source
Labels: Business, Cheats., Hype, Questionable Behaviour
posted by The Malaysian. at 1/09/2008 09:32:00 AM
6 Comments:
There are lies from both sides.
For Malaysian advertising to imply that clearing virgin jungle to plant oil palms is environmentally neutral is blatantly untrue. All the rich diversity of plants and animals which originally existed in the jungle are gone.
At the same time the more extreme environmentalists who term it wholesale destruction of the environment are also misleading.
Malaysia, even West Malaysia still has substantial areas of forest. If you get out of KL and other big cities, you don't have to drive very far off the tar road before you meet the jungle.
What IS rapidly disappearing are large continuous tracts of virgin jungle, which is what is needed by large mammals such as elephants, tigers etc. to survive.
Sadly, if more is not done, these creatures will be extinct in one or two more generations.
Clearing the virgin forests kills or displaces all their native species of both flora and fauna.
The oil palm is an alien species in Malaysia.
The only creatures which find oil palm plantations habitable are perhaps snakes and rats.
Smaller native animals, birds, insects and flora do not find an oil palm plantation a suitable habitat.
Large mammals cannot live in an oil palm plantation.
The advertisements are patently untrue and misleading, they deserve to be banned throughout the world.
The Malaysian government lies not only to the people of Malaysia, but to the people of the entire world. How shameful.
The Malaysian Govt. can lie to its own people & they have been doing that for the last 50 years.
But, the Malaysian people put that Govt. where it is today so they (the people) deserve what they get!
So now, those arrogant idiots think they can fool the rest of the world!
They not only make fools of themselves, but they also make fools of all Malaysians!
This article sites a company called, "Friends of the Earth Biofuels" and attributes a ticker symbol to that entity.
"Earth Biofuels, Inc," of Dallas, Texas is the actual owner of that stock ticker symbol (EBOF.OB).
The two businesses should not be confused as they have no affiliation with each other. I respectfully request that the information in the article be amended to reflect this misunderstanding.
Sincerely,
Shawne Horn
Earth Biofuels, Inc.
(EBOF.OB)
Dallas, TX 75205
www.earthbiofuels.com
Thanks for the feedback Ms Horn. The misleading ticker symbol (EBOF.OB) has been deleted. Cheers, and have a good day.
to the seeker of truth..
actually not only snakes and rats dat find oil palm plantation habitable..coz there's still other animal and plant that can adapt with oil palm plantation.i've been studied about the oil palm biodiversity.there still many bird species that can adapt there include the migratory birds such as tiger shrike and long tailed shrike.there r so many insects spesies dat can be found.we need oil palm for our economic importance,u have to know that..but,beside that,we still can maintain our biodiversity with the guideline of RSPO.dun think negative and open ur eyes,open ur mind..
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