Nike called its tennis shirts 'sustainable' — the ASA banned the ad for greenwashing

In June 2025 Nike ran a paid-for Google search ad in the UK for its tennis polo shirts, headlined 'Serve An Ace With Nike' and carrying the phrase 'sustainable materials.' It was a small ad — Google limits the headline to 30 characters and the body to 90 — but one word in it, 'sustainable,' was enough to bring it to the attention of the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Nike argued the claim was general, not product-specific: it meant that some of its products incorporated recycled materials, and that consumers would understand it that way. It said every one of its Summer 2025 tennis polo shirts contained at least 75% recycled materials, that a product qualified for its 'sustainable materials' banner only with at least 50% recycled content, and that it used a third-party tool, Higg MSI, whose data showed recycled polyester cut CO2-equivalent emissions, cradle-to-gate, versus virgin polyester. The ad, it noted, had already been taken down.

The ASA was not persuaded. On 3 December 2025 it upheld the complaint and banned the ad. 'Sustainable,' it said, was an absolute claim: consumers would read it to mean the shirts, across their whole life cycle, had no detrimental effect on the environment. That demanded proof Nike did not have — its recycled-content and cradle-to-gate evidence covered only part of the life cycle. Google's character limit was no excuse. The ad breached CAP Code rules on misleading advertising, substantiation and environmental claims, alongside Lacoste and Superdry ads banned the same day.