ASA Adjudication on Zipvit Ltd

Ad

A press ad, which promoted vitamin supplements, was headlined “WHAT DO THE TOP 2 CYCLING TEAMS IN THE WORLD HAVE IN COMMON?”. Smaller text below stated “They’re Both Powered by zipvit”. Next to a photo of a cyclist, text stated “ZIPVIT SPORT fuels male and female elite, amateur and recreational cyclists and tri-atheletes from around the world with high-performance energy and recovery drinks ... Each product is … developed in conjunction with elite athletes from world class pro-racing teams such as Cervélo and Team RadioShack”.

Issue

One complainant challenged whether the claim "What do the top 2 cycling teams in the world have in common?" was misleading, because he did not believe that Cervlo and Team RadioShack were the highest ranked teams in the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) World Ranking.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Zipvit Ltd said that the ad had been withdrawn.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted that Zipvit had not set out why they had described Cervlo and Team RadioShack as the "top 2 cycling teams in the world", or provided any evidence in support of that claim.

Because we had not seen any substantiation in support of the claim that Cervlo and Team RadioShack were the "top 2 cycling teams in the world", we concluded the ad was likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Zipvit to ensure they had evidence to support their advertising claims in future.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)