Malaysian plam oil industry condemned for greenwashing

Malaysian Palm Oil - a gift from nature?

The Malaysian Palm Oil Council produced a television advertising entitled "Gift from Nature, Gift for Life" which was broadcast on BBC in the UK.

The images and text of the television ad portray malaysian palm oil as green and environmentally friendly, with statements such as "a gift from nature, a gift for life" and "helping the planet breathe", as well as images of oil palm trees and tropical rainforests. Especially the final sentence "sustainably produced since 1917" is clearly misleading - the consumer is likely to take from the term that palm oil is produced without harming the environment in any way. The footage in the advertisement, by hinting that palm oil production does not harm trees or contribute to deforestation, also leads the consumer to use this definition of "sustainably produced".

However, research shows that 86 per cent of all deforestation in Malaysia between 1995 and 2000 was attributed to palm oil development, threatening species such as the orangutan and the proboscis monkey as well as causing social problems for the people who live or depend on the forests. The draining and deforesting of peatlands in South-East Asia, predominantly to make way for palm plantations, releases huge amounts of soil carbon into the atmosphere, accounting for a massive 8 per cent of global annual CO2 emissions.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) and Friends of the Earth Europe filed a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK about the advertisement because we believe it constitutes a breach of the Television Advertising Standards Code.

• Read the complaint (July 25, 2007)

The ASA fully upheld Friends of the Earth's complaints and condemned the statements for implying universal acceptance that palm oil is being sustainably produced. The watchdog ruled that the Malaysian Palm Oil Council had not provided the necessary evidence to back up such statements.

The ASA also concluded that the adverts were misleading, "because there was not a consensus that there was a net benefit to the environment from Malaysia's palm oil plantations" and said that this advert should not be broadcast again.

• Read the ASA ruling (January 9, 2008)
• Read our press release (January 9, 2008)

See the misleading television advertisement of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council for yourself:

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