Baby Spice Emma Bunton’s Kit & Kin baby brand and FMCG brand The Cheeky Panda have had advertisements censored following complaints documented by industry powerhouse Procter & Gamble (P&G).
The decision by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to uphold the complaints is further evidence of the clampdown on misleading ads relating to sustainability messaging and marketing.
P&G acted after Spice Girl Bunton’s Kit & Kin company published a web ad and web listings in August 2025 that talked up the environmental impact of its nappies. The Cheeky Panda web descriptions of its nappies and baby wipes, seen online in November 2025, were similar.
P&G challenged and successfully gained ASA’s backing that the following descriptions by Cheeky Panda were misleading: “sustainable bamboo” and “100% sustainable bamboo fibre”; “biodegradable baby wipes” and “biodegradable fibres”; and “kinder to the planet […] protecting the planet”.
Bunton’s brand, which last week raised £92,000 in a crowdfunding round, had its knuckles rapped due to using the following descriptions too loosely: “sustainable” and “made from sustainable […] materials”; and “biodegradable”.
Both The Cheeky Panda and Kit & Kin – which are B-Corp-certified organisations – provided evidence as to why they used such terminology, but ultimately they have amended the copy now to remove what was deemed to be misleading statements.
On The Cheeky Panda, the ASA said: “We expected to see evidence relating to the full lifecycle of the bamboo, as used in each product, from farming to disposal.”
It added: “We understood Cheeky Panda had intended the claim as referring to the fact their nappies used bamboo and bamboo pulp instead of plastic and wood pulp commonly used in nappies. However, that had not been set out as the basis of the comparative claim “kinder to the planet” in the ad.”
On Kit & Kin, the authority stated: “The ad had not explained the basis of the environmental claims, and comparative claim, made.
“Additionally, we had not seen adequate evidence to support the environmental claims made in the ad as they were likely to be understood. We therefore concluded it had given a misleading impression of the advertised products’ environmental impact.”
On the webpage copy, the ASA said the basis for Kit & Kin’s claims had “not been made clear”, and lacked evidence based on the full lifecycle of the products to support the absolute claims “sustainable” and “sustainable plant-based materials”.
Critiquing the biodegradable claim, the authority said: “The ad had also not included information relating to the method of disposal, length of time biodegradation would take, or any potential by-products. We therefore concluded the claim was likely to mislead.”
Read more about misleading ads, on Green Retail World
[image credit: Green Retail World]
