Food and Beverages

The advertisement was seen on the homepage of the advertisers’ own website and promoted various yoghurt-oat products. Text on the homepage referring to these products stated:

“Real ingredients.

Proper nourishment

Guilt free.”

The complainant objected to the claim “real ingredients” on the advertisers’ website as they noted that the ‘Breakfast Oats Chocolate & Vanilla’ product included ingredients such as glucose-fructose syrup, sweetened condensed milk, glycerol monostearate and potassium sorbate.

The advertisers clarified that the words “real ingredients” were not used on the ‘Breakfast Oats Chocolate & Vanilla’ product page or any product page, nor was it attributed to any specific product. They said that it was a brand copy, speaking to the fact that their products contained real ingredients, although possibly not exclusively depending on what might be considered ‘real’.

The advertisers said that they shared the full ingredient list for each product on their website so that customers had full visibility of ingredients contained in each. The advertisers said that to the best of their knowledge there was no exact legislation which stated that they could not use the wording “real ingredients” and that it was neither a nutritional nor health claim as detailed by the ASA Code.

They said that they had contacted their regulatory advisor for consultation on this and that they would welcome the ASA’s review of this matter to ensure that they were not in breach of the Code. They said they would make any immediate amends to the advertising as required.

Statement.

The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. The Committee also noted the advertisers’ willingness to engage on the matter and to make any amendments to the advertising as required.

The Committee considered that, in line with the Code, a Statement was warranted in this case.

The Committee noted that the claim “Real Ingredients” was intended to be brand copy rather than an individual product claim. They considered that when read with the other two statements, “Proper nourishment” and “Guilt free”, consumers could understand it to be an overall claim that the products contained natural or minimally processed ingredients. The Committee considered that when the ad copy was taken as a whole, there was the potential for confusion. They noted, however, that there were no objective criteria for the meaning of the statement “Real Ingredients”. The Committee advised caution so as to avoid potential confusion.

Action Required:

The Complaints Committee advised advertisers to take into account the overall impression created by the claims used in their advertising when taken as a whole and in context, and how this may be understood by consumers.