Nike Attempts To Overturn Footballers Tweet Ban

Nike is seeking "an independent review" of the Advertising Standards Authority's decision to ban tweets by its brand ambassadors -- footballers Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere -- for "breaching advertising rules," according to Daniel Farey-Jones of MARKETING MAGAZINE. Nike became "the first U.K. company to have a Twitter campaign banned" when the ASA cracked down last month on the following tweets the players published in January. The ASA investigated after one complaint that challenged whether both tweets were "identifiable as marketing communications." It ruled that "in the absence of a marker, for example #ad, the tweets were not obviously identifiable" as Nike marketing communications and therefore "breached the CAP Code rules on recognition of marketing communications." However, Nike has "yet to remove the tweets" despite the ASA’s ruling they should no longer appear, because it is "invoking the watchdog’s own appeals process" (MARKETINGMAGAZINE.co.uk, 7/10).