What was claimed
A photo shows a road where five veterans have decorated their homes with England flags, which has led to neighbours complaining to the police.
Our verdict
Misleading. The road was decorated like this for a 2023 Nike commercial, and was the backdrop for a scene featuring Lioness Chloe Kelly. It’s not related to the current social media campaign to fly flags in public spaces.
A photo showing a street flying England flags has been shared with claims it shows homes decorated by five veterans, and that neighbours have complained to the police. But it’s not a recent image, and the road was actually decorated like this to feature in a 2023 Nike advert.
While it’s possible that veterans may live in these houses, we’ve not seen any evidence that this is the case or that there were any complaints about the flags to the police.
In the photo, a suburban street has St George’s flags hanging from windows, tied to lamp posts and a front lawn decorated in red-and-white.
One post with thousands of shares has the caption: “It’s circulating online that this street has 5 Veterens [sic] who have decorated their homes! Apparently two neighbours have called the police and complained! I love the sight of a proud UK! #raisethecolours #uk #veterens [sic]”. Comments on the post include: “I say tell the neighbour to shove off”, and “How dare they l thought we were i England [sic]”.
The hashtag “#raisethecolours” on the post relates to a social media campaign, dubbed Operation Raise Your Colours, in which the England and Union Jack flags are being flown on lamp posts and in other public places across the country, and it’s being shared with photos of these locations on social media.
However, the photo in the viral post does not show homes decorated as part of this movement.
The street in Bromley was decorated like this for a 2023 Nike campaign called What the Football. It is the backdrop for a brief scene in the 2 minute 30 seconds commercial in which Lioness Chloe Kelly holds the England flag and kicks a ball towards the camera. The campaign was released in July 2023, before the Lionesses lost to Spain in the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Misleading images are a common form of online misinformation. It’s important to consider whether images show what they claim to before sharing them on social media. Our guides to navigating information online and spotting misleading images may help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because this comes from a 2023 Nike campaign and isn’t related to the recent social media campaign to raise flags in public.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.