ASA Adjudication on General Mills UK Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for Old El Paso fajitas kit, showed a family cooking, preparing and eating fajitas. On-screen text stated "Kit contains smaller tortillas than shown".

Issue

A viewer believed the ad was misleading because the tortillas shown in the ad were larger than those provided in the Old El Paso fajitas kit.

BCAP TV Code

Response

General Mills said the ad was originally shot in Australia and had been adapted for use in the UK.  They explained the tortillas in the Australian Old El Paso fajita kits were about two inches larger in diameter than those sold in the UK kit.  They said the smaller size was the standard UK retail size tortilla sold in kits by both Old El Paso and other brands.  General Mills believed that the ad made no specific claim about the tortillas or their size and were only shown briefly as an incidental part of using the kit with people shown using the tortillas to make fajitas.  They said the ad included on-screen text stating "Kit contains smaller tortillas than shown" in order to avoid giving any misleading impression about the product and they therefore did not believe that the ad was likely to mislead viewers.  

Clearcast said the visuals for the ad had already been made when they received the script and believed that adding the on-screen text would make clear to viewers what they would actually get with the kit.  They acknowledged that the situation was not ideal and said, if the ad had not already been made, they would have advised that the tortillas shown in the ad should be the size viewers would get in the kit.  However, in order to save a pre-existing ad, whilst avoiding misleading viewers, they agreed to include the on-screen text.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA understood that the visuals in the ad were not made for the British market and on-screen text had been used to try to avoid giving a misleading impression of the product.  We considered however that, although it was acceptable for on-screen text to clarify or expand on claims in ads or to add minor qualifications, it should not contradict claims made in the ad.  Because we considered that the on-screen text contradicted the more prominent visuals, which we considered were not merely incidental and clearly showed tortillas larger than those supplied with the Old El Paso Fajitas Kit, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead viewers about the contents of the product.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.4.2 (Superimposed text).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)