ASA Adjudication on J Sainsbury plc

Ad

A TV ad, for Sainsbury's "traffic-light" food labelling system, featured an animated woman pushing her child in a trolley. She was shown reading the label on a food packet while the voice-over said "Some food labels can make it really complicated to work out what's good for you. But with Sainsbury's traffic-light labelling, you can tell at a glance." An example of the labelling system appeared on-screen in the form of a wheel made up of five equal segments detailing the fat, saturated fat, salt, total sugar and calorie content in grams. The segments were coloured orange and green. The voice-over said "Mostly green is a healthier choice". An animated tub of yogurt appeared beside the wheel skipping. The wheel changed to show segments coloured in red, orange and green. An animated burger appeared next to the wheel, giving the thumbs up. The voice-over continued "Mostly red is more of a treat."

Issue

Three viewers challenged whether the description of food featuring red segments on the traffic light wheel as a "treat" was misleading, irresponsible and harmful, because they believed the purpose of the labelling system was to show consumers which foods were unhealthy and therefore should be avoided.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd (Sainsbury's) said they developed the traffic light system to help make their customers' lives easier and to educate them about the scheme. They explained that the green, amber and red labelling system allowed customers to determine at a glance which foods contained low, medium or high levels of certain nutrients. Sainsbury's said the traffic light system was supported by full nutritional information, including Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA), on the back of packaging.

They explained that the system helped consumers to choose healthier foods whilst acknowledging that they would continue to eat food with "red" content. Sainsbury's said they strongly believed that there were no such thing as bad foods, only bad diets and told the ASA that this position was shared by the British Nutrition Foundation. They added that their ad followed the wording used by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on its website which described a "red" food as something which could be eaten as a "treat". They said they were therefore happy to support the advice that foods that were mostly red should be eaten once in a while as a "treat". Sainsbury's emphasised that they did not want to give the impression that foods containing "red" nutrients could not be eaten at all. They pointed to the FSA's Balance of Good Health pamphlet, based on the Government's Eight Guidelines for a Healthy Diet, which showed illustrations of different foods that would appear red for fat and sugar in their traffic-light system. Sainsbury's argued that the overriding message was to eat foods containing high levels of fat and sugar occasionally or as a treat.

Sainsbury's concluded by stating that the ad did not disparage good dietary practice, nor did it encourage or condone behaviour prejudicial to health and safety. They said they did not believe the ad had breached the Code. Sainsbury's said they did not have immediate plans to broadcast the ad again but indicated that they may decide to do so in the future.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) said they considered that a "treat" described a food to be consumed in moderation and that people took pleasure from eating because it was not something they consumed every day. They argued that the ad did not explicitly advocate eating burgers but alerted the consumer to the existence of a labelling system that could help them to choose foods most appropriate to their dietary needs. The BACC pointed out that the ad had been broadcast previously, without complaint, featuring a voice-over that stated "Mostly red means enjoy it once in a while". They considered that the current claim did not differ significantly from that. The BACC endorsed Sainsbury's response and disagreed that the ad breached the Code.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA considered the comments submitted by Sainsbury's and the BACC. We noted the aim of the traffic-light labelling system was to educate consumers about how to achieve a balanced diet and sought to make it easier for them to do so. We also noted the FSA's website read "if you see a red light on the front of the pack ... it's fine to have the food occasionally, or as a treat, but try to keep an eye on how often you choose these foods, or try eating them in smaller amounts".

We considered that most viewers were likely to understand that a "treat" was a food to be consumed in moderation or on special occasions and were unlikely to infer that regularly eating foods that were high in fat, sugar or salt constituted a balanced diet. We considered that, by showing a yogurt and a burger, Sainsbury's were merely giving examples of food that had different nutritional content to demonstrate how the traffic light system worked. We concluded that the ad did not disparage good dietary practice and was therefore unlikely to mislead or be seen to be irresponsible.

We investigated the ad under CAP Broadcast (TV) Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 6.7 (Health and safety) and 8.3.3 (Comparisons and good dietary practice) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)