The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the independent regulator of advertising across all UK media. They assess complaints about ads to determine if they are unsuitable, misleading, or in breach of their codes. Two cases involved misleading comparative nutrition and portion claims for food products, while a third involved a mobile phone plan ad claiming "unlimited" data which was misleading as it had usage restrictions. In all cases, the ASA ruled the ads must not appear in their current form and told the advertisers to ensure future claims complied with their codes.

1. ASA – Advertising Standards
Authority
Rachael Sampson

2. The Advertising Standards Authority
The ASA is the UK’s independent regulator for
advertising across all media. They look at
complaints regarding certain products and
assess their suitability.

3. Reasons
• Inappropriate for children
• Sexist
• Sexually inappropriate
• Misleading
• Animal cruelty
• Homosexuality
• Racism
• Violence
• Religion
• Offensive to people with disabilities
• Miscellaneous (i.e. airbrushed images)

4. Case 1
A TV ad stated "New Special K Multi Grain Porridge - a
delicious blend of oats, barley, rye and delicious berries.
With 30% less fat than most other porridges". On-screen text read
"At least 30% lower than the average fat content of most porridges,
as calculated April 2013".
PepsiCo and 14 other complainants challenged whether the
comparative nutrition claim "30% less fat than most other porridges"
complied with the Code.
Kellogg stated that the ad drew a comparison between the Red Berry
version of the product and most other porridges. They believed that
the voice-over and super clearly explained the basis of the
comparison by stating that the product had at least 30% less fat than
the average fat content of most porridge products on the market.
They also noted that the comparison was based on 100 g of dry
product and believed that was fair, as both the kind of liquid, for
example, skimmed milk, full-fat milk or water, and the amount used
to make the product, would vary from consumer to consumer.

5. Case 1 (continued)
Because we had not seen evidence that the comparator
products selected were representative of the category,
and the comparative claim was based on the fat content
of Special K porridge and the comparator products when
they were dry and therefore cannot be consumed as
porridge, we concluded that the comparative nutrition
claim was in breach of the Code.
Action: The ad must not appear again in its current form.
We told Kellogg Marketing and Sales Company (UK) Ltd to
ensure that comparative nutrition claims complied with
the Code in future.

6. Case 2
Claims on www.lovetaste.co, promoting a
smoothie range, included "How to make a
Smoothie …1. Pour 200ml of apple juice into your blender
2. Add your Love Smoothies Fruit pouch 3. Blend for 30
seconds 4. Serve 5. Slurrrp and Enjoy! ... The Good Bits:
Each one gives you 2.5 of your 5-a-day. Only takes 30
seconds to blend. Just add juice - we recommend apple.
No need for ice. 2 year shelf-life for the frozen food
pouches. No wastage (and no icky fruit fly infestations)".
The complainant challenged whether the claim "Each one
gives you 2.5 of your 5-a-day" was misleading and could
be substantiated.

7. Case 2 (continued)
Love Taste Co provided a link to information about eating fruit and
vegetables on a government website. While they acknowledged that
government guidance stated that fruit juice, regardless of the amount, did
not count as more than one portion of fruit per day, they explained that it
did not limit the number of fruit and vegetable portions in a smoothie
drink. They said that the NHS guidance advised 80 g of fruit and 150 ml of
fruit juice were each equivalent to one of the five daily recommended
portions, and their smoothies consisted of frozen, chopped, uncooked fruit
and vegetables weighing 140 g, which was then blended with 200 ml of
juice. They provided a list of their smoothie recipes and the amount of fruit
in each pouch and explained that the amount of raw fruit and vegetable in
their smoothies, once the juice was added, was 20 g less than being three
portions.
The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claim "Each one
gives you 2.5 of your 5-a-day" to mean that the each smoothie pouch,
when blended with fruit juice, would provide two and a half of the daily
recommended portions of fruit and vegetables, in accordance with the
government criteria.

8. Case 2 (continued)
While we noted the pouches contained a combination of
140 g of fruits and vegetables and the ad advised adding
200 ml of fruit juice, we noted only three of the pouches
contained 80 g or more of one variety of fruit or
vegetable, which we understood, according to
government guidance, was a requirement if more than
one of the five recommended portions was to be
declared for smoothies.
Action: The ad must not appear in its current form. We
told Love Taste Co to ensure that claims about the
number of recommended portions of fruit and vegetables
in their products were not misleadingly exaggerated.

9. Case 3
Lycamobile is in breach of the UK Ad Code for
misleadingly claiming a mobile phone plan has
“unlimited” 4G data.
The ASA published a ruling on 13 August 2014 about a
claim for a mobile phone plan on the
lycamobile.co.uk website that stated: “UNLIMITED 4G
DATA With 500 UK minutes & unlimited UK texts Only £12
per month”, which was challenged by the complainants.
Lycamobile have ignored the ASA and due to this the
matter went to the CAP compliance team and they were
told they couldn’t show the ad in it’s current form unless
there was evidence for “unlimited” texts.
Because of their ignorance they are notified on the ASA
website warning customers of their deceit.