ASA Ruling Against Popular Clothing Retailer

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that clothing retailer, Nike Retail BV, mislead consumers by stating, Nike Tennis Polo Shirts – Serve An Ace With Nike[…]Sustainable Materials”.

The paid-for Google advertisement was limited to 30 characters and generalised towards a large range of Nike products, including several other promotional claims. When the ad was clicked on by a consumer, they were directed to a product wall showing all Nike tennis polo shirts available at the time the ad was live, some of which contained a “sustainable materials” banner. Any product containing a minimum of 50% recycled materials was able to display this banner. Nike used third-party tool, Higg MSI, to assess the impact of their materials and to support environmental claims.

The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) guidance states that, when used in an advertisement, environmental claims must be clear, terms used must be clear, and they must be supported. Environmental claims must be based on the full life cycle of the advertised product, unless stated otherwise.

The ASA concluded that, as the advertisement contained the claim “sustainable materials” and no further information, the claim was considered to be absolute and therefore misleading.