ASA Adjudication on Nutricia Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for Cow & Gate, featured an infant sitting in a chair, while the voiceover stated "From the start, you did all you could to help your baby develop." The infant was then replaced by a slightly older infant, drinking from a beaker; a woman's arm was extended next to the infant with an open Cow & Gate umbrella. The voiceover continued "And at the next stage, we were there to help." The infant was replaced by a toddler with a number one on his t-shirt and the umbrella was folded away as the voiceover stated "Now that's he's one, why stop?" The ad showed a woman's hand picking up the product as the voiceover stated "With Cow & Gate Growing Up milk, you can carry on feeding him the same essential goodies like vitamins and iron as he continues to develop. You watch him growing happy and full of life. Cow & Gate Growing Up milk." On-screen text stated "We're here to help".

Issue

The complainants challenged whether the image of the infant and the Cow & Gate umbrella, together with the statement "From the start, you did all you could to help your baby develop.  Now that he's one, why stop" was irresponsible because they believed it indirectly promoted the use of Cow & Gate formula for young babies without stating that breast milk was advised for babies under one year old.  

BCAP TV Code

Response

Cow & Gate said the Food Standards Agency (FSA) had advised them that Growing Up Milk should not be marketed as a follow-on formula but a Food for Particular Nutritional Use (PNU), as defined by the Food for Particular Nutritional Uses Regulations 2002.  They said the Regulations did not require references to be made to the superiority of breast-feeding in the marketing of PNUs, nor did they cite any other requirements, other than notifying the FSA when marketing such products.

Cow & Gate explained their rationale for each scene of the ad.

~ "From the start ... "

Cow & Gate told us they intended this phrase to refer to the period from pregnancy to early infancy.  They said they featured an eight-month old baby and did not include the Cow & Gate umbrella in this scene to avoid any suggestion that the product was infant formula.  They added that the phrase "you did all you could ..." emphasised that the choice of feeding regime was a decision that should be taken by the carer.

~ "at the next stage"

Cow & Gate said the Department of Health suggested that weaning from six months onwards could help with a child's speech development and prevented dental damage.  They explained that the age of six months was therefore traditionally seen as the "next stage" in an infant's nutritional development.

~ "We were there to help"

They explained that this statement referred to the wide range of products and services available to carer and child, and emphasised that the matter of whether to ask for or to accept that help was the carer's choice.

~ "Now that he's one, why stop?"

Cow & Gate told us their consumer research had shown carers understood that toddlers had particular nutritional needs and therefore wanted to be aware of any products, such as fortified milk products, that would meet those needs.

Cow & Gate concluded their response by stating that, since the ad was first shown, sales of their Growing Up Milk had increased but they had not seen a change in sales of either infant or follow-on formula.

The BACC expressed agreement with the explanations given by Cow & Gate and said they had carefully examined both the visuals and audio at the pre-approval stage.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted Growing Up Milk was not a follow-on formula but was classified as a PNU and Cow & Gate had notified the FSA accordingly.  We acknowledged that the ad targeted the carers of young children, but considered that both the voiceover and the scenes featuring bottles of Growing Up Milk and the older child served to place more emphasis on feeding options when the child had reached the age of one.  We noted the ad did not make any reference to infant or follow-on formula and considered that the number one on the child's t-shirt and the pack shot of the product at the end made clear that the ad was promoting a product for children over one year old.   

We considered that most viewers were unlikely to infer from the ad that infant or follow-on formula was superior to breastfeeding for very young children and therefore concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead carers or  be seen to convey a message that could lead to behaviour that was harmful to infants.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 1.1 (Complying with the law), 7.3.2 (Physical harm) and 8.3.1 (Accuracy in food advertising) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)