Soft drinks - The Food Commission

advertisingLegal, decent,honest and true?The activities of the advertising industry raise many importantquestions for nutrition and health. Here we report on complaintsagainst food and drink companies adjudicated by the AdvertisingStandards Authority (ASA) in recent months.✗McDonald’s fries:Not so pureThe ASA upheld a complaint from theFood Commission against an advertisementfor McDonald’s fries. The advert claimed totell ‘The story of ourfries. (End of story)’.‘First,’ saidMcDonald’s, ‘we takethe potatoes. We peelthem, slice them, frythem and that’s it.’We knew this was notthe whole truth andsubmitted our complaint.The ASA’s investigationsconfirmed that fries forMcDonald’s go throughseveral more processes. For a start, thepotatoes are also par-fried, frozen and stored.Dextrose is added to make the fries yellow,and salt is added before serving to thecustomer. Because the story told in the advertclearly WASN’T ‘it’, McDonald’s was told by theASA not to repeat this marketing approach.This is an interesting case, since the advertwas part of a 2003 McDonald’s campaigntargeted at middle-class mums through glossymagazines and newspaper supplements. Thecampaign was designed to associateMcDonald’s products with purity and health.Perhaps a better approach for McDonald’swould be to make the food pure and healthy.✗Smoothie ads:Too fruitySeveral complaints against an advertfor fruit smoothies produced by‘thejuicecompany’ were upheld by the ASA ongrounds of ‘taste and decency’. The postercampaign showed a man in drag wearingblack lingerie, a necklace and a blonde wigwith the line: ‘New fruit on the block’. Thecomplainants pointed out that ‘fruit’ was aderogatory term for homosexual men, and saidthat the advertisement was offensive andhomophobic. The ASA acknowledged that theposter could be seen as offensive and askedthe advertisers not to use this theme in future.✗Arthritis pills:Creaky claimsA direct mailing for an anti-arthritissupplement was criticised by the ASA forclaiming that the product, called SAMe, ‘iscapable of improving the structure andfunction of joint cartilage... SAMe not onlyhelps arthritis - it also makes you happy!’The advertisers – Elixir of Life also statedthat SAMe had been shown to be useful inthe treatment or prevention of depression,fibromyalgia, liver cirrhosis, Alzheimer’sdisease and aging. The advertisers failedto respond to the ASA’s enquiries.Complaints were also upheld against anewspaper advertisement for an antiageingand anti-arthritis capsule from acompany called MicroTech. The companysaid that it did not know it had to holdevidence to prove the product’s efficacy, andsent the ASA the results of a trial with 60patients, in which only four patients’ appearedto have been cured.The ASA said that this did not support theadvertised claim: ‘Up to 100% pain relief inmost cases’, and told MicroTech not to makesuch statements again.Wyeth convicted of illegal formula ads✗The ASA is not the only body thatcan challenge misleading or illegaladvertising. In a case brought by anarea trading standards department, Wyeth,the parent company of SMA Nutrition, hasbeen found guilty of illegal advertising offormula milk. The adverts appeared inmagazines targeted at young mothers, suchas Prima Baby (an extract is shown below).Announcing the verdict, the district judgeat Birmingham Magistrates Court said: “Thedefendants have deliberately crossed theline‚ in an effort to advertise direct to avulnerable section of society. This is acynical and deliberate breach of theregulations.”SMA Nutrition is the second largest babymilk manufacturer in the world.Nothingadded –except glucose andfructose syrup, anthocyanins, guar gum, betacarotene,modified maize starch, pectin,flavouring, potassium citrate, citric acid,calcium citrate, sodium citrate and sugar.✗Danone yogurt:Full of additivesMuller Dairy and several members ofthe public objected to a magazineadvertisement for yogurt headlined: ‘NewDanone Shape. Now with added nothing’‚The text continued, ‘Simply a virtually fat freeyogurt packed with real fruit. And becausethere are no artificial sweeteners,preservatives or colourants, the deliciousnatural fruit flavours can really comethrough’.As well as yogurt and fruit, the productscontained added ingredients such as glucoseand fructose syrup, anthocyanins, guar gum,beta-carotene, modified maize starch, pectin,flavouring, potassium citrate, citric acid,calcium citrate, sodium citrate and sugar.The ASA said that ‘with added nothing’was therefore misleading. The claim ‘virtuallyfat free’ was also criticised by the ASA,because the yogurt contained 0.9% fat.Danone stated that, because no legaldefinition of ‘virtually fat free’ existed, theyhad developed their own definition. The ASAconsidered that because the Food StandardsAgency states that ‘fat free’ claims can bemade only for products containing 0.15% fator less, the claimwas misleading.The Judgefined Wyeth/SMA £4,000 foreach of fouradvertisements,and £5,000 eachfor two furtheradvertisementswhich couldhave beenwithdrawn after a warning from LACOTs, thenational trading standards body.■ Source: Baby Milk ActionIf you see food and drink advertisementsthat you think are misleading orcontentious, send us a copy. If we think it isa good case, we will be pleased to submita complaint on your behalf.Food Magazine 64 10 Jan/Mar 2004