From last January to April, 17 percent of car advertisements focused on the climate or CO2 emissions, energy efficiency or fuel consumption. In the same period in 2006, the proportion was 1 percent. In terms of value (advertising pressure), advertising with environmentally friendly messages accounted for 32 percent. In the first four months of 2006, this figure was 14 percent. However, design and lifestyle advertising for cars remained the strongest in print, on posters, in cinemas and on television. At the beginning of this year, 40 percent of advertisements focused on such content (2006: 39 percent). In terms of value, the proportion was 29 percent (23 percent). However, manufacturers used performance and horsepower far less to win the favor of buyers. In terms of value, the proportion of such advertising messages has fallen from 17% at the beginning of 2006 to 3% at the beginning of this year. In terms of the number of placements, this represents a decline from 37% to 1%.
The authors of the study analyzed car advertising in the first four months of the year, as these are the most advertising-intensive months for the car industry. Specifically, they looked at the 50 most important brands in Switzerland, which covers 90 percent of the new car market.