Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were upheld.
Ad description
Two ads for Alliance Winds Ltd t/a LinenDaily, an online clothing company, seen on 22 September 2025:
a . A paid-for Meta ad included text stating “Built by Veterans. Owned by Veterans.” Further text stated “This Remembrance Day, we honour the fallen, the missing, and all who stood tall— from the Great War to today. We remember their courage, their duty, and the families who carried the load at home. These shirts aren’t just stitched with fabric — they’re stitched with sacrifice”.
The ad also featured an image of a jumper with a large, printed image of a roaring lion overlaid with the design of the Union Flag, extending across the sleeves and chest.
b. The website www.linendaily.com, included a listing for a “PTSD t-shirt”, and included text stating “50% of profits are donated to the UK PTSD support organisations”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:
- “Built by Veterans. Owned by Veterans” in ad (a); and
- “50% of profits are donated to the UK PTSD support organisations” in ad (b).
Response
Alliance Winds Ltd t/a LinenDaily did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Alliance Winds Ltd t/a LinenDaily’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
1. & 2. Upheld
We considered the claim “Built by Veterans. Owned by Veterans” in ad (a) would likely be interpreted by consumers to mean that the company, Alliance Winds Ltd t/a LinenDaily, was established and owned by ex-members of the armed forces.
The ad included a reference to “Remembrance Day” and the clothing in the ad featured a Union Flag. We therefore considered that consumers were likely to understand that the veterans in question would have served for the British armed forces.
We also considered the claim “50% of profits are donated to the UK PTSD support organisations” in ad (b) would be understood by consumers to mean that half of the profits generated from sales of the t-shirt shown in the ad were donated to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) support organisations in the UK.
In the absence of evidence showing that LinenDaily was established and owned by veterans of the British armed forces, or that 50% of their profits from the t-shirt shown in the ad were donated to UK PTSD support organisations, we concluded that the claims “Built by Veterans. Owned by Veterans” in ad (a) and “50% of profits are donated to the UK PTSD support organisations” in ad (b) had not been substantiated and were therefore misleading.
The claims breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), and 3.7 (Substantiation).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Alliance Winds Ltd t/a LinenDaily not to claim that they were established and owned by veterans of the armed forces or that they donated a share of their profits to PTSD support organisations unless they held adequate substantiation for those claims. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
