Nike advertising, Superdry and Lacoste were banned in the UK for misleading consumers about the sustainability of their products.
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said Google's paid ads, run by all three retailers, use terms such as “eco-friendly”, “sustainable materials” or “eco-friendly style” without providing evidence to back up the “green” claims.
An ad for Nike tennis polo shirts talked about “eco-friendly materials.” The company said the promotion was “worded in general terms” and said consumers would interpret it as a reference to some, but not all, of the products offered.
Similarly, Superdry, which encouraged consumers to “unleash a wardrobe that combines style and sustainability”, said the advert's purpose was to highlight that it produces, sources and sells a wide range of products with “sustainability attributes and certifications”.
Lacoste, which promotes eco-friendly children's clothing, 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 advertising code states that environmental claims must be clear and “supported by a high level of substantiation”.
It said that in each case, retailers used the phrase “sustainable” without any additional information, making the statement “ambiguous and unclear.”
“The claim was absolute and therefore a high level of justification had to be provided,” the watchdog said. “We have not seen evidence to support this. We therefore conclude that the advertising is likely to be misleading.”
The ASA also said there was no evidence that the products were environmentally friendly when their entire life cycle was taken into account.
It banned every advertisement and ordered retailers to “ensure the basis of future environmental claims and their implications are clear, and provide a high level of substantiation to support absolute claims.”
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In addition, the ASA has also banned gambling company Betway's advertising featuring Formula One star Sir Lewis Hamilton as it is likely to appeal to children under 18.
A paid Facebook ad that ran before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July showed a video of three Formula One drivers standing in the grandstand watching the race with their backs to the viewer, with Hamilton's name written on the back of his red driver's uniform.
The plaintiff disputed whether Hamilton's use breached UK advertising rules, which prevent celebrities who may be highly attractive to children under 18 from appearing in gambling advertisements.
Betway did not dispute that Hamilton was highly attractive to children under 18, but argued that the way he was presented in the advertisement limited that appeal as it did not show his face or frontal view.
The ASA said consumers, including those under the age of 18, would clearly recognize the figure as Hamilton, concluding that the advert was “irresponsible and breached the code”.
