Où will end the straitjacket of obligations imposed on drivers while the municipalities, Europe or the executive are trying to put the weight of the fault on whoever takes the wheel. Presumed guilty ex officio vis-à-vis a pedestrian, a toddler or a cyclist for the purposes of compensation by insurance, the motorist must already seize his file to prove his innocence.
Ostracized by municipal policies which relegate him to the garage to leave avenues and suburbs to the wandering of a few two-wheelers, the once omnipotent motorist, it is a fact, has been reduced to the minimum portion. By permanently losing the upper hand, the motorist has not even found a place more in line with the meaning of sharing. In many places he has lost the game. The generalized renunciation is even programmed in the big cities with the establishment of the zones with low emissions (ZFE), even if the calendar took a little delay.
Also read: “One year of reprieve for driving on old diesel in Greater Paris”
But the ambient autophobia does not relax and we learn that it comes to nestle where we least expected it: in automobile advertisements. Since 1988 when any allusion to speed is prohibited in the communication of manufacturers, it seemed that we had made the rounds of insults. Well no, since car advertisements will now have to promote active mobility, carpooling or public transport from the 1er March 2022.
The palissades with ridiculous effect
This directive, published in the Official Journal on Wednesday, establishes that these compulsory slogans will be drafted according to the same model as the messages of the type “avoid eating too much fat, too sweet, too salty” imposed since 2007 in the diet.
From March, the advertisement for motor vehicles must include one of the following messages: “For short journeys, prefer walking or cycling”, “Think about carpool” or “On a daily basis, take public transport », According to a decree of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The obvious which will undoubtedly have only a very limited effect on the citizens who had not yet realized these situations.
And the obligation will not be relaxed since this obligation will apply to advertising broadcast on radio, television, cinema, the Internet, on advertising screens as well as on printed media. The message will be accompanied by the words “# SeDéplacerMoinsPolluer” on all the media mentioned, except on the radio.
Hygienist drift
In the event of failure, the advertiser is exposed to a formal notice and, without compliance, to a financial penalty of up to 50,000 euros per broadcast, specifies another decree published on Wednesday in the Official Journal. This measure around car advertising was introduced by the mobility orientation law of December 2019.
We can see that the naivety of the slogan emanates from people who either know nothing about the travel problems of the French, or accumulate since their ivory tower annoyances with regard to the automobile, the one that must be eliminated. We imagine that going crescendo in this hygienist drift, the next stage of communication will be to affix, as on tobacco packages, shock photos illustrating the devastation due to accidents. This infantilizing pedagogy is likely to miss its goal by attracting sarcasm from those for whom it is intended.
From 1er March 2022, car manufacturers will also have the obligation to include the carbon dioxide emission class of the vehicles promoted, a novelty introduced in April by the deputies within the climate law.
