The Good Roll sold 10% green bonds — the risks only lived in the prospectus

The Good Roll, the Dutch bamboo toilet-paper brand, advertised its €1 million bond issue in print: a fixed 10% annual return, entry from €100, and money going to a paper factory in Ghana with jobs and sanitation as the payoff. The only warning in the ad was a banner reading 'You are investing outside AFM supervision. No prospectus requirement for this activity.'

What the ad left out was the balance sheet: negative equity of €4.7 million, total debt of nearly €13 million and a €1.3 million loss in 2025 — disclosed only in the downloadable prospectus. The factory story was partial too: about 60% of the proceeds went to Ghana, while 40% was earmarked for European working capital, covering losses and paying interest on earlier bonds. The risks were not made explicit on the landing page the ad's QR code led to either.

On 11 March 2026 the Advertising Code Committee ruled the campaign misleading and unfair (case 2025/00670), breaching the Dutch Advertising Code's rules on essential information and the sustainability code's clarity requirement: the average consumer could not see the financial risks or that money would not go solely to the factory. The committee accepted that print space is limited — and said the risks belonged on the landing page regardless. The Good Roll did not appeal.

The ad's 10% return and factory story hid that 40% of proceeds covered losses and interest; the committee ruled risks belonged on the landing page, not just the PDF.

High yields need visible risks: the 10% promise was on the ad while negative equity lived in a downloadable file.

The green story hid the cash flow: the ad sold a Ghana factory that received 60% — the rest covered losses, working capital and interest on earlier bonds.

Space limits were no excuse: the committee accepted print constraints and still required the risks on the QR landing page.

A 10% return needs its risks in the same view as the promise: bury negative equity in a prospectus and dress the bond in a factory story, and the ad misleads.

The ruling of 11 March 2026 (case 2025/00670) recommended The Good Roll stop advertising this way; the appeal deadline of 25 March 2026 passed without appeal. Financial statements published 14 January 2026 showed the negative equity and losses.