“I’m Runway, EVERYBODY Likes Me!”
Jesse Tabit September 16, 2015
London Heathrow Airport’s (LHR) advertisements for its proposed third runway are not entirely truthful, advertising watchdogs say.
A poster promoting the expansion claims:
“Those around us are behind us.”
However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) notes that a recent poll commissioned by the airport revealed only 50 percent of locals approve of the new runway.
In response to accusations of exaggeration, LHR claims the poll focused on areas that are most impacted by airport operations, such as noise interruption.
The airport has been ordered to not use the ad again. Since the ads went up earlier this year, at least one has been modified by a local who opposes the new runway.
"Those Around us are Behind Us" the amended version doing the rounds today. pic.twitter.com/X206ik5DwO
— TeddingtonActionGrp (@TeddingtonTAG) January 29, 2015
[Photo: London Heathrow Airport]
You'll probably find that LHR actually focuses on areas where there is a high number of airport employees. This is how these surveys work. LGW has a different approach; one that favours it, obviously. I live close-by and get planes over the house. I don't mind it too much but I like planes. Most people I speak to locally are dead against expansion because they don't fly that often. I'm also against it because I'd rather LHR invested in sorting out overcrowding in terminals, stopping forcing people going through the shops on the way to the lounge (at times I use the airport every other day; I'm not going to buy a bottle of booze to bring to my meeting) and remove the now well-enforced tax for picking up passengers. If they keep doing all they can to piss off their regular users then they're not going to get our support. But they're not actually interested in us. They want a bigger hub for transit passengers, none of whom will contribute to the UK economy as is repeatedly claimed, other than giving money to the airport and its parent company. Cattle in. Cattle out.