Download decision - New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority

ADVERTISING STANDARDS COMPLAINTS BOARD
PO Box 10-675 Wellington
Telephone (04) 472-7852
Facsimile (04) 471-1785
Email [email protected]
Website www.asa.co.nz
05/203
DECISION
Meeting 9August 2005
Complaint 05/203
Complainant: P. Thompson
Advertisement: New Zealand Beef and Lamb
Complaint: The billboard advertisement contained a depiction of New Zealand Olympic
champion cyclist Sarah Ulmer. A large graphic said: Turn Iron
Into Gold
A further message in red ink said: BEEF
+ LAMB
This was followed by: Feel Twice
as Good
Complainant, P. Thompson, said:
Advertisement What: Beef and Lamb
Where: Billboard, Junction of Victor Street and Blockhouse Bay Road
When: 15 July 2005
Description: Poster featuring Olympic cyclist Sarah Ulmer promoting beef and lamb with the
generic and unsubstantiated claim that consumption thereof will make one "feel twice as
good".
Complaint Further to my previous - and so far unresolved - complaint regarding the use of Olympian
Athletes promising unsubstantiated and misleading health benefits ("feel twice as good") to
persons consuming red meat products, it would appear that the meat industry has extended its
efforts to deceive the New Zealand consumer.
I will not repeat the entire previous complaint, but suffice it to say that the advertisement is
deliberately misleading because it a) promises ostensible health benefits which cannot be
substantiated, and b) neglects to mention the potentially fatal side effects of consuming the
products. Research has established clear links between the consumption of red meat and
various health disorders, including obesity and several cancers.
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05/203
An overview of the latest scientific findings can be read in the UK Guardian, URL:
http://society.gaurdain.co.uk/cancer/story/0,8150,1506801,00.html
I realise that ASA proceedings can take some time, but frankly, the apparent lack of activity
on the first complaint is not encouraging. If any decision is made only after the campaign has
already ended, then the harm to the public good has already been perpetrated. The ASA's
ability to tut-tut after the event is hardly a pretext for having confidence in the current
regulatory system.
The advertisements are neither balanced nor based on fact. This is obvious to any
independent rational observer. Why are they still being permitted to be
displayed/broadcast?”
The Chairman ruled that the following provisions were relevant:
Code for Advertising of Food
Principle 2
All food advertisements should be prepared with a due sense of social responsibility to
consumers and to society. However advertisements containing nutrient, nutrition,
health or therapeutic claims, should observe a high standard of social responsibility.
Guidelines
(a) Nutrient, nutrition and health or therapeutic claims should not be inconsistent with
national health and nutrition policy.
Principle 4
Advertisements should not by implication, omission, ambiguity or exaggerated claim
mislead or deceive or be likely to mislead or deceive consumers, abuse the trust of or
exploit the lack of knowledge of consumers, exploit the superstitious or without
justifiable reason play on fear.
Guidelines
(a) All nutrient, nutritional, health and therapeutic claims should be factual, not misleading,
and able to be proved. A high standard of substantiation is required, such as authentication by
ANZFA and/or appropriate government agencies or significant scientific agreement among
experts that the claim or message is supported by publicly available scientific evidence.
(c) Food advertisements can contain exaggerated or humorous depictions. This is acceptable
provided it is obviously not misleading.
The Advertiser, New Zealand Beef and Lamb, said:
“Thank you for your letter dated 28 June 2005, received on the 30th, regarding
correspondence from P. Thompson on our Beef and Lamb billboard advertisement.
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I have enclosed our response to the complaint based on the relevant sections of the code,
highlighted in your letter.
As with complaint 05/175, our response has been developed with input from our marketing
manager and our nutrition manager. Please note that many aspects of the response reiterate
verbatim points made in our response to complaint 05/175, as the issues are similar.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss this further. I look forward to
hearing from you.
Response
Principle 2 - All food advertisements should be prepared with a due sense of social
responsibility to consumers and to society. However advertisements containing nutrient,
nutrition, health or therapeutic claims, should observe a high standard of social
responsibility.
Principle 2 Guideline (a) - Nutrient, nutrition and health or therapeutic claims should
not be inconsistent with national health and nutrition policy.
The advertisement uses Olympic athlete, Sarah Ulmer, to demonstrate the importance of
iron, and beef and lamb, for energy. By her own words, Sarah Ulmer eats, enjoys and derives
enormous benefit from beef and lamb in her diet. The New Zealand Beef and Lamb
Marketing Bureau has been supporting her for some seven years now. Sarah strongly
believes it socially responsible and necessary to promote the consumption of iron and lean
beef and lamb to others.
The advertisement is a clear, understandable depiction of how iron in the diet can be a
winning concept. The latest campaign is an extension of the original campaign 'Red Meat.
Feel Good', which was well supported by evidence that meat in a balanced diet can help
provide a sense of well being (see evidence below). The `Beef + Lamb. Feel Twice as Good'
words are an understandable way of demonstrating how women can enjoy the iron-giving
properties of both beef and lamb.
The Nutrition Task force to the Department (now Ministry) of Health's report, `Food for
Health'1, recommended the following daily intakes for adults, which show how the
statement in the advertisement that women need twice as much iron as men, is in line with
national policy:
Men
Women
7 mg/day
12-16 mg/day
In addition, the latest food and nutrition guidelines for healthy adults2 recommend: `Eat
plenty of iron-rich foods. These may include lean red meat, liver, fish and chicken.'
`Women of child-bearing age and those at risk of iron deficiency should be encouraged to
consume adequate amounts of iron-rich foods, including lean red meat, poultry and seafood.'
References:
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1
Department of Health 1991 Food for Health Report of the Nutrition Taskforce
Wellington. Department of Health
2 Ministry of Health 2003, Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Healthy Adults. A
Background Paper Wellington Ministry of Health
The New Zealand Beef and Lamb Marketing Bureau employs two qualified nutritionists.
Their role, in all the Bureau's advertising, is to ensure the message and tone are responsible.
They do this not only through their own professional expertise but by also consulting with
other, independent health professionals such as the Auckland District Health Board's
nutritionists. * The credibility of the messages conveyed is of utmost importance and forms
the benchmark for all of the Bureau's wider work.
* See copies of letters attached from Professor Clifford Tasman Jones and the Auckland
Regional Public Health Service.
Principle 4 – Advertisements should not by implication, omission, ambiguity or
exaggerated claim, mislead or deceive or be likely to mislead or deceive consumers, abuse
the trust of or exploit the lack of knowledge of consumers, exploit the superstitious or
without justifiable reason play on fear.
Principle 4 Guideline (a)
All nutrient, nutritional, health ad therapeutic claims should be factual, not misleading,
and able to be proved. A high standard of substantiation is required, such as
authentication by ANZFA (now FSANZ) and/or appropriate government agencies or
significant scientific agreement among experts that the claim or message is supported by
publicly available scientific evidence.
`Turn Iron Into Gold' is an obvious play on Sarah Ulmer's success at the Athens Olympics.
She has openly stated that beef and lamb (red meat) was and is an important part of her
training diet. This billboard was developed not only to help convey a serious, credible
message about the benefits of lean beef and lamb in a healthy diet but also as a public
celebration of Sarah Ulmer's Olympic gold medal. The additional play on the phrase is with
Sarah winning her gold medal she `Turned Iron into Gold' - iron derived from beef and lamb
and as a result feeling `Twice as Good'. There is an abundance of medical and nutritional
evidence in the public domain to support the view that lean beef and lamb is an important
part of a balanced, healthy diet.
The `Red Meat. Feel Good' and `Beef + Lamb. Feel Twice as Good' campaigns were
deliberately precipitated by the publication of a scientific report `The Role of Red Meat in a
Healthy Diet' August 2001 (copy enclosed). The report, produced by the New Zealand Beef
and Lamb Marketing Bureau under the guidance of a group of leading New Zealand experts
in nutrition (whose names appear on the back page of the report), concludes that beef and
lamb have an important place in a healthy New Zealand diet. It describes how red meat
contains the essential nutrients, iron, zinc and vitamin B12, is a good source of protein, and is
low in fat when lean. The report states that New Zealanders eat beef and lamb in amounts
well within all food and nutrition guidelines including those of the Ministry of Health, the
National Heart Foundation of New Zealand and the Cancer Society of New Zealand.
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Guideline 4 (c) Food advertisements can contain exaggerated or humorous
depictions. This is acceptable provided it is obviously not misleading.
Once again, the `Beef + Lamb. Feel Twice as Good' slogan is an understandable way of
demonstrating how women can enjoy the iron-giving properties of both beef and lamb. The
billboard message creates a clear association between Sarah Ulmer's success and the
inclusion of beef and lamb in her diet. It does so in a graphic and descriptive way by using
the phrases `Turn Iron into Gold' and `Feel Twice as Good'. The entire advertisement should
be viewed as a celebration of Sarah's Olympic success. It is a satirical approach and when
analyzed is supported by the nutritional evidence available in the public domain. Auckland
Regional Public Health Service, prior to the advertisement being developed, endorsed the
slogan `Feel Twice as Good'
as `a general statement about the sense of well-being and good health obtained from eating
lean beef and lamb in order to improve iron levels'.”
The attachments referred to in the above submission were provided.
The Agency, Frank, said:
“We are in receipt of your two complaints about this campaign. (05/175 and 05/203) New
Zealand Beef and Lamb are preparing a detailed formal response with supporting material.
You should also be aware that in briefings to the agency particular emphasis was made by
New Zealand Beef and Lamb around the social responsibility regarding the nutrition
messages and out takes from the campaign. A number of concepts were presented as part of
the campaign development process and sense checked as too their appropriateness.
In developing the campaign we independently sourced material that supported the campaign.
This was then verified by New Zealand Beef and Lamb nutritionists.”
Deliberation
As a preliminary matter, the Chairman addressed the procedural issue raised by the
Complainant with regard to a previous complaint lodged. He noted the Complainant’s view
regarding the time involved in processing that complaint and advised as follows. As in the
judicial system, it was not appropriate to assume a breach of the regulations before all the
evidence had been submitted and given thorough consideration. Natural justice required all
parties to a complaint be given the opportunity to respond to issues raised in that complaint,
and a reasonable time to be given for this to be undertaken. The Complaints Board allowed
fourteen days for this stage of the process. As complaint 05/175 concerned a television
advertisement, the Complaints Board had also been required to obtain a copy of it from the
channel concerned before any further processing could be undertaken. When responses had
been received, the matter was then placed before the Complaints Board at the first available
monthly meeting. Following the Complaints Board’s adjudication all parties were
immediately advised of the outcome. If a complaint was upheld, all parties were requested to
remove the advertisement or offending part immediately. The Chairman advised that the
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Complaints Board has had 100% cooperation with this request. Should a campaign have
ended in the interim, the Complaints Board’s decision sent a clear message to all members
of the advertising industry and the public about how the Advertising Codes applied, thereby
giving guidance for future advertisements.
Turning to Complaint 05/203, the Complaints Board perused the relevant correspondence
and the billboard advertisement. It noted the Complainant was of the view that the claim that
eating red meat would make one “feel twice as good” was “deliberately misleading because
it a) promises ostensible health benefits which cannot be substantiated, and b) neglects to
mention the potentially fatal side effects of consuming the products.”
The Chairman directed the Complaints Board to consider the complaint in relation to Code
for Advertising of Food Principle 2 - Guideline (a); and Principle 4 - Guidelines (a), (b) and
(c).
The Complaints Board noted that the substance of Complaint 05/203 was essentially the same
as that in 05/175, submitted by the same complainant, and confirmed that its deliberation in
Decision 05/175 applied.
The Complaints Board noted the relationship between the “Feel twice as good” message and
the fact that beef and lamb were two good sources of iron. Also that it alluded to the fact that
women required twice as much iron as men. The Complaints Board also took into account the
Advertiser’s advice that the tagline had been checked by the Auckland Regional Public
Health Service, prior to publication of the advertisement.
Furthermore, the Complaints Board noted the Advertiser’s submission where it said:
“`Turn Iron Into Gold` is an obvious play on Sarah Ulmer's success at the Athens Olympics.
She has openly stated that beef and lamb (red meat) was and is an important part of her
training diet. This billboard was developed not only to help convey a serious, credible
message about the benefits of lean beef and lamb in a healthy diet but also as a public
celebration of Sarah Ulmer's Olympic gold medal. The additional play on the phrase is with
Sarah winning her gold medal she `Turned Iron into Gold' - iron derived from beef and lamb
and was as a result feeling `Twice as Good'. There is an abundance of medical and
nutritional evidence in the public domain to support the view that lean beef and lamb is an
important part of a balanced, healthy diet.”
Having made the above observations, the Complaints Board said the advertisement, observed
the high standard of social responsibility required by the Code for the Advertising of Food,
Principle 2, and was not in breach of that Principle. Furthermore, it was not in breach of
Guideline (a) as the claim was not inconsistent with national health and nutrition policy.
Turning to Principle 4, the Complaints Board said it was not in breach as it was not
misleading to the consumer. The advertiser had provided a high standard of substantiation for
the claim and the advertisement was not in breach of Guidelines 4 (a). The advertiser had
taken the nature of the audience into account and the advertisement was not in breach of
Guideline (b) and as the humorous depiction was not misleading, the advertisement was not
in breach of Guideline (c).
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The Complaints Board ruled to not uphold the complaint.
Decision: Complaint Not Upheld