Advertising regulator to sanction brands labelling real fur as 'faux'

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 17, 2019

The UK advertising watchdog is taking measures to crack down on misleading ‘faux fur’ claims in the fashion sector following the recent discovery of more offending items sold by well-known brands.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Committees of Advertising Practice issued on Thursday an enforcement notice that will apply to all brands advertising in the UK across all media, online and social media from 11 February.

Companies are warned to take immediate action to ensure they are not selling any real fur as ‘faux’ or risk being sanctioned, which may ultimately include referral to the ASA system’s legal backstop for misleading advertising.

It comes after online fashion retailer Boohoo was found to be selling an item described as ‘Faux Fur Pom Pom Jumper’ which contained real animal fur last week. Amazon, TK Maxx, Tesco and FatFace have also been previously warned.

“Consumers shouldn’t be misled into buying a faux fur product in good conscience only for it to turn out to be made from a real animal.  That’s not just misleading, it can also be deeply upsetting,” said chief executive of the ASA, Guy Parker.

Claire Bass, executive director of the Humane Society International UK, commented: "We welcome the ASA’s firm action to ban companies from falsely advertising real fur as faux. HSI UK’s investigations have shown time and time again a shocking amount of fake faux fur for sale in Britain, so we are delighted that the ASA is upholding our complaint and calling on retailers to take full responsibility to get their house in order. Fur is a product of animal suffering that most British consumers want nothing to do with, and they have the right to be confident that when they buy faux fur they are not being duped into buying the exact animal cruelty they are trying to avoid.”

Humane Society International is hoping to take the matter further and ban the sale of animal fur in the UK.