The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today issued a ruling finding a piece of advertising by Lloyds Banking Group to be misleading.

The ad in question is a national press ad for Lloyds Banking Group, seen on 25 March 2025. It included a photo of a black horse galloping past new homes with building work underway. Large text stated “£19.5 billion for social housing. And that’s just the start”. Smaller text underneath stated “Everyone deserves a safe place to call home. That’s why we’ve provided £19.5 billion to the social housing sector since 2018. Helping Britain Prosper Search Lloyds Banking Group social housing”. The ad included the Lloyds Banking Group logo.

The complainant challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that Lloyds Banking Group had donated £19.5 billion to social housing projects.

The watchdog found that, in the absence of further qualification, readers were likely to interpret the claims “£19.5 billion for social housing” and “That’s why we’ve provided £19.5 billion to the social housing sector since 2018” to mean that Lloyds had made a significant financial contribution to the social housing sector, and that the figure referred to funding that had directly benefitted organisations within it.

In particular, ASA considered readers were likely to understand the term “provided” to mean the funding had been given or donated to social housing projects, rather than made available through commercial loans or investments.

Furthermore, ASA considered overall presentation of the ad, including the image of the Lloyds black horse galloping past new homes with building work underway, and the statement “Helping Britain Prosper”, furthered that impression.

Taken together, ASA considered readers were likely to interpret that to mean Lloyds Banking Group had played a direct role in creating affordable housing and the funding had been provided on a non-commercial basis, for public benefit.

ASA concluded that the overall presentation of the ad, in the absence of any qualification or clarifying text, while ambiguous, gave the overall impression that the sum of money had been donated to the social housing sector. Because that was not the case, ASA concluded that it was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising).

The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. ASA told Lloyds Bank plc t/a Lloyds Banking Group not to misleadingly imply that they had donated money to social housing projects when that was not the case, and to ensure future ads did not mislead by omitting significant information that put claims into context.