Advertisment
The advertisement was seen as a sponsored post on Instagram and featured an image of a young, excited woman holding two sachets of the product on offer. Text at the top of the image stated, “Zest Active. Same Super Supplement, New Berry Taste”. Further text towards the bottom of the image stated, “Just Add Water!” and a link to “Order Now” was also included.
The caption of the image read:
“Energise your Day with NEW Zest Active Berry Burst Flavour!
🍓 Same Super Supplement, New Berry Taste
🏃 Super way to kickstart your day
⌚ Super Absorbable, gets to work quicker
1️ Sachet, Once a Day – Everything you need
Shop now and spark your energy everyday!”
Complaint
The complainant said that as the advertisement featured an image of a woman of childbearing age, this, in addition to the claim “everything you need”, implied that the product had everything a woman would require. However, the complainant said the sachets did not contain enough folic acid for the age group as it only had 300 micrograms (µg) whereas women of the age depicted in the advertisement needed 400µg.
The complainant said that a separate supplement would be required to meet the requisite amount of folic acid for women of the age depicted in the advertisement and that this was not made clear in the advertisement. They therefore considered this to be misleading.
Response
The advertisers said that they took all feedback seriously and were committed to maintaining high standards of transparency and accuracy in their marketing communications.
The advertisers said that the European Union’s nutrient reference value (EU NRV) for folic acid was 200µg and that their product contained 300µg. They said that the Zest Active product also contained a caution statement on the box which stated, ‘As with any nutritional supplement please consult your qualified healthcare professional before use, especially if pregnant, breastfeeding, if you have a known medical condition or are taking medication.’ The advertisers said that in addition, they had forwarded the complaint over to their new product development (NPD) team.
The advertisers clarified that the Instagram post which included the tagline ‘everything you need’ had been removed from their social media pages. They said that everything they released on their social media channels was approved by compliance, however, in this case the process was not followed. The advertisers said they recognized that this oversight could have potentially misled consumers, and for that, they wished to sincerely apologise. They said that a thorough internal review of their marketing and advertising messaging had been carried out and the importance of following approval processes had been made extremely clear to the wider teams.
They advertisers said they sincerely regretted any confusion or concern that their advertisement may have caused and said that their intention has always been to provide a high-quality product that supports overall health and well-being.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Research carried out by the Executive found advice from both the Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland(1) and the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom (2) which recommended a minimum of 400µg of folic acid daily for women of childbearing age.
(1) https://www2.hse.ie/medicines/folic-acid/
(2) https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/folic-acid/how-and-when-to-take-folic-acid/
Conclusion
The Complaints Council considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. They noted that the advertisement had since been removed.
The Council noted the wording in the advertisement that one sachet, once a day was “everything you need”. They considered that when this claim was taken together with the image of the young woman, this implied that the advertised product contained all of the required vitamins and minerals needed for a woman of that age group.
The Council noted the advice from the HSE and NHS which stated that all women who can get pregnant should take a 400 micrograms folic acid supplement every day and that they should do this even if they are not planning to get pregnant. They noted that the advertised product contained 300 micrograms of folic acid and that it therefore did not provide the required amount for women of childbearing age. In light of this, the Complaints Council considered that the advertisement had the potential to mislead consumers and that it therefore breached the Code at sections 4.01, 4.04, 4.09, and 4.10.
ACTION REQUIRED:
As the advertisement had been withdrawn, no further action was required in this instance. However, the Complaints Council reminded advertisers to ensure that correct information regarding the health benefits of a product was listed in advertising.
