UK Bans Nike, Lacoste, and Superdry Ads on Allegations of ‘Greenwashing’

UK cancels Nike, Lacoste and Superdry ads for alleged greenwashing practices. The UK’s advertising authority, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has banned one advertisement from each of the companies after finding that they made “misleading claims” about their sustainability.

Although the authority announced it on Wednesday, the veto of the fashion companies’ ads in the country was made in June, and had an impact on three ads on Google, one from each of them, according to the Financial Times.

Nike’s ad highlighted the sustainable materials used in some of its garments, and Lacoste touted its children’s clothing as “sustainable and stylish.“ In the same vein, Superdry claimed that its products combined “style and sustainability”. The British advertising authority understands that none of them can support these claims.

According to a report issued by the ASA, Nike advised that the ad was no longer active; Lacoste, in addition to withdrawing the ad, acknowledged that terms such as “sustainable” or “eco-friendly” were no longer in use, and Superdry disagreed with the regulator but said it would not use it again.

Nike, Lacoste and Superdry withdrew the affected ads

This decision comes in the context of a wider greenwashing crackdown by the UK. Last year, the regulator did the same with Asos, Boohoo, Asda and George, also flagging their environmental policy claims as false.

The authority uses an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based monitoring system on fashion industry advertisements, which detected inconsistencies in the advertising of these three companies. In this way, the ASA aims to ensure that the advertising regulation, which states that environmental claims must be “clear and verifiable,“ is complied with.

According to the Apparel Impact Institute’s latest study Taking stock of progress against the roadmap to net zero 2025, the fashion industry’s carbon emissions shot up by 7.5% in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching 944 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, 1.78% of the global total.