The Turkish Trade Ministry’s advertising board has imposed substantial fines on sportswear brands New Balance, Vans and Camper for failing to properly inform consumers about the use of pigskin in some of their shoes, Turkish media reported on Monday.
New Balance, in particular, was found to have listed its products such as the “W990GL6,” “M2002RST,” “U9060BLK” and “U991LG2” on its Turkish website with vague descriptions like “suede,” “mesh” or “synthetic,” without mentioning the presence of pigskin, a material that may conflict with the religious sensitivities of Turkey’s majority Muslim population. However, on the brand’s international websites, the shoes were listed more accurately with “pigskin/mesh” in the material descriptions.
The advertising board cited violations of a Turkish law which mandates that any product containing materials contrary to the religious sensibilities of the majority of society must be clearly identified in advertisements and product descriptions. As a result, New Balance was fined TL 1.73 million ($92,000).
Vans, similarly, was penalized for failing to disclose pigskin usage in its footwear, with the board imposing a fine of TL 863,580 ($46,000). Camper, another shoe brand under scrutiny, was also found to have misrepresented the materials used in its products, and its advertising campaigns were halted.
This is not the first time a major global brand has been penalized by Turkey’s advertising regulator for similar issues. Just a few months ago German sporting goods giant Adidas was fined TL 550,059 ($15,200) for describing its “Samba OG” sneakers as made from “real leather” without disclosing that the leather came from pigs.
In 2020 Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs ruled it was “not permissible to manufacture shoes or garments from pigskin or pigskin hair.”
“It is accepted by nearly all Muslim scholars that pigskin cannot be made pure by tanning or similar processes,” it said.