It's not just here that BMW has come into conflict with the Marketing Act. In Sweden, too, the authorities believe the brand is tightening it.
In 2021, the Swedish Advertising Ombudsman criticized BMW for misleading marketing in an advertisement.
The advertisement, which was carried in Swedish media, attracted attention when Greta Thunberg's well-known "School Strike for Climate" poster was used as part of the marketing campaign.
The ad presented BMW as “the world’s best car brand for the climate.” However, such a claim was later rejected as misleading by the Advertising Ombudsman in Sweden.
– Unfortunately, I am used to seeing how companies around the world use my name, Greta Thunberg said afterwards.
She went on to explain that she had chosen to accept the ad because it could be used to illustrate the challenges of sustainability.
The misleading ad was published in Dagens Nyheter, where Greta Thunberg was guest editor that day. The newspaper was focusing on climate-related issues that day, and Thunberg used her role to focus attention on the global issue.
After the ad was published, several people chose to complain about BMW, both to the Swedish Consumer Agency and to the Advertising Ombudsman. The criticism was primarily that BMW's claim could be perceived as greenwashing.
BMW itself has defended the use of the claim. According to Kai Zöberlein, press contact at BMW Group in Germany, the claim is based on the company's ranking in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index from 2020.
"From our point of view, it is correct to say that the BMW Group is ranked as the world's most sustainable car manufacturer," said Zöberlein.
However, the Advertising Ombudsman considered that the claim was too broad and unspecific. According to the authority's assessment, an average consumer could interpret the statement as a comparison with all car manufacturers, which BMW cannot document.
The Ombudsman also noted that it was not clear which manufacturers were included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2020. This further weakened the basis for the claim that BMW was “the world’s best car brand from a climate perspective”.
According to the Ombudsman, BMW's claim was therefore in breach of several rules on marketing, including provisions on misleading and environmental claims.
It's not just in Sweden that BMW has been caught lying. Here at home, the Danish importer has had to pay a million-kroner fine for similar claims. Read more about it here .
