Today Fossielvrij Onderwijs, supported by the PILP-NJCM, submitted a complaint against Shell to the Advertising Code Committee. The complaint concerns Shell’s advertisement at the Generation Discover Festival, an event for children of the primary school. In the complaint it is argued that Shell made misleading advertisement regarding GTL Fuel – liquid natural gas – by promoting it as clean energy, despite it being a fossil fuel. Furthermore, the advertisement referred to the UN sustainable development goals; however, using different, misleading terms.

Different issues of human rights and children’s rights are involved in this case. Serious environmental pollution affects the right to life and the right to respect for private an family life. In this day and age, when climate change is subject of many public debates, it is in the public interest to examine whether an advertisement targeting children contains misleading claims about the environment. Human rights legal expert and project officer for the PILP-NJCM, Daun Hwang says ‘Based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children need to be protected from surreptitious advertising like in this case. The Convention provides that the best interests of the child shall be of a primary consideration in all actions concerning children’. For these reasons, the PILP-NJCM decided to support this case.

The press release issued by Fossielvrij Onderwijs can be read here.