Ads for three major fashion/sports brands have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) claiming Nike, Superdry and Lacoste misled shoppers by using term ‘sustainable’ in paid-for Google ads.
Reuters
The issue appears to be that the UK ads made claims about the sustainability credentials of products, using terms such as “sustainable”, “sustainable materials” or “sustainable style”, without providing evidence proving the green claims, reported The Guardian newspaper.
Nike said its promotion was “framed in general terms” and argued consumers would interpret it as referring to some, but not all, products offered.
Similarly, Superdry, which urged consumers to “unlock a wardrobe that combines style and sustainability”, said the purpose of the ad was to highlight that it manufactured, sourced and sold a wide range of products that have “sustainability attributes and credentials”.
Promoting sustainable kids’ clothing, Lacoste said it had been working for several years to reduce the carbon footprint of all its products, but admitted that claims such as “green”, “sustainable” and “eco-friendly” were “very difficult to substantiate”.
The ASA said the UK code of advertising states that environmental claims must be clear and “supported by a high level of substantiation”. This wasn’t the case for the three companies’ ads.
It banned each of the ads and told the retailers to “ensure that the basis of future environmental claims, and their meaning, was made clear, and that a high level of substantiation must be held to support absolute claims”.
