Ryanair could face advertising sanctions for "misleading the public"

Ryanair has now been warned it could face advertising sanctions for "misleading the public" and betraying consumer trust as well as bringing "advertising into disrepute."

The boss of the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) - Christopher Graham - told the Guardian:

"Ryanair has been given every opportunity to work with the ASA and get its advertising right. It faces the real threat of formal sanctions, which includes a referral to the Office of Fair Trading under the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988."

This latest ASA threat comes after Ryanair were accused of trivialising - "playing down the impact of aviation on the environment" when they claimed the airline industry accounts for "just 2% of carbon dioxide emissions." (The UK government figures put emissions for domestic and international flights leaving the UK at 6.5% and hence 13% of the UK's climate impact.)

In January too a BBC Newsnight investigation revealed that Ryanair's claims to have cut its emissions in half were false.