ASA Adjudication on Kellogg Marketing and Sales Company (UK) Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for a breakfast cereal, showed people eating Kelloggs Crunchy Nut Clusters in a variety of situations. The first scenario showed people at a barbecue; the nut clusters were arranged on the grill as kebabs, braised with milk. The scene then cut to a couple watching TV, eating nut clusters out of a bowl as though it were popcorn; the bowl was empty so the man filled it up from a packet of the cereal. The next scene showed a woman lying on her bed with what looked like a box of chocolates but contained nut clusters. The final scene depicted people milling around a milk fountain, dipping nut clusters into it. A male voice-over stated "Kelloggs Crunchy Nut Clusters. Ludicrously tasty" while a bowl of the product was shown.

Issue

Two complainants objected that the ad was misleading, because it exaggerated the size of the nut clusters.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Kellogg Marketing and Sales Company (UK) Ltd (Kelloggs) said the clusters which appeared in the ad were genuine and from actual packets of Crunchy Nut Clusters cereal. They said all their products were manufactured under the strictest standards to ensure quality. Kelloggs said each cluster was made of a combination of oats, maize, wheat, peanuts and coconut with a honey syrup and vegetable oil binder.  They said the ingredients were oven baked and fused into a large sheet, which was then broken to form the individual clusters. As a result of the manufacturing process, the size of the clusters varied from 10 mm to 30 mm in diameter and in shape from square to more rounded nuggets. Kelloggs said they estimated that the clusters which featured in the ad were no larger than 30 mm in diameter and, as could be seen in several sequences of the ad, the clusters were varied in shape and were not uniform.

Clearcast said when they approved the script they issued the agency a warning to ensure that the visual treatment was an accurate representation of the contents of one standard production line pack and that the quantity and quality of the product was not exaggerated.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted the clusters appeared in several different sequences of the ad. We noted, in particular, the scene where the clusters were being barbequed as kebabs and where a woman ate a cluster from a box of chocolates. We noted the individual clusters appeared to be of a reasonable size and spherical in shape. We noted, however, the complainants' concern over the representation of the size of the product and obtained a packet of Crunchy Nut Clusters to examine them. We discarded the broken clusters and separated out the larger, fully formed pieces.  We noted from the pieces that the clusters varied in size in line with Kelloggs' response.

We considered that viewers would understand that not all clusters in the pack would be fully formed and some would be broken in transit; they would also understand that not all the clusters would be the exact same size and shape but were likely to expect that the clusters depicted in the ad would be of similar size to the actual product.  Although we noted there were some differences in the size and shape of the clusters we saw, we considered that, from the sample of the product we obtained, the size of the fully formed clusters was similar to those shown in the ad. Because we considered that the ad did not overly exaggerate the size of the clusters, we concluded that it was unlikely to mislead.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1 (Misleadingness) and 5.2.2 (Implications) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)