ASA Adjudication on The Redbush Tea Company Ltd

Ad

An ad, for Rooibos or Redbush tea, appeared in Pregnancy & birth magazine and was headlined "Give your health a boost". The subheading stated "Rooibos tea has been helping soothe digestive disorders for years. Now discover the health benefits that Redbush Tea could have for you and your baby". An image of a mother bottle-feeding a baby appeared beside text that stated "REDBUSH TEA OR ROOIBOS has been used as a tribal medicine in South Africa for centuries. Its health benefits for infants were first discovered when a mother accidentally mixed some cooled rooibos tea in her baby's formula, and discovered that her daughter slept peacefully, having suffered for months with colic and vomiting". Under the heading "Natural remedy", text stated "Naturally infused with anti-inflammatory properties ... Redbush is also naturally caffeine free, and can help overcome the symptoms of nausea and headaches commonly found from drinking coffee". Under the heading "Health benefits", text stated "Redbush has fantastic skin healing properties ... If bottle feeding your baby, add Redbush to the formula instead of water, using the same quantity, and cool to the usual temperature".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether:

1. the claim "Rooibos tea has been helping soothe digestive disorders for years" was misleading and could be substantiated;

2. the claim "her daughter slept peacefully, having suffered for months with colic and vomiting" implied Redbush could be used to treat colic and nausea;

3. the claim "Redbush has fantastic skin healing properties" was misleading and could be substantiated and

4. the claim "If bottle feeding your baby, add Redbush to the formula instead of water" encouraged an irresponsible practice.

The ASA challenged whether the claims:

5. "Naturally infused with anti-inflammatory properties" and

6. "can help overcome the symptoms of nausea and headaches commonly found from drinking coffee" were misleading and could be substantiated.

CAP Code

Response

1., 2., 3., 5. & 6. The Redbush Tea Company explained that the ad had been prepared by Pregnancy & birth magazine in response to an award for Best Natural Remedy, voted for by their readers. They said it had not appeared elsewhere and they had no plans to use it again. They said they always took care to explain to magazines that prepared similar ads that they should avoid making claims about the healing properties for Redbush tea and sent one of their own ads to demonstrate that they did not make similar claims themselves. They said at the time the ad was published they thought that it would be acceptable because the claims were made on behalf of Pregnancy & Birth magazine and were the result of a vote by readers. They said they now appreciated that was not the case.

They said their own literature on their products always included qualifying text that made clear there had been no clinical trials on Redbush tea. They sent scientific research that showed Redbush tea contained anti-oxidants including Quercetin, which they asserted had recognised anti-inflammatory properties. They argued that caffeine was known to cause stress and headaches and that many doctors recommended caffeine-free alternatives to avoid those side effects. They said they were a member of the Health Food Manufacturers' Association (HFMA) and that they were applying to the European Food Safety Authority to make claims for the healing properties of Redbush that would be compatible with forthcoming European laws.

Pregnancy & birth magazine explained that all similar ads were written from briefs supplied by clients and that the final version was signed off by the client. They said they relied on the client to check and hold substantiation for all claims made. They said they had not received any complaints about the ad.

4. The Redbush Tea Company sent a press cutting that recommended giving babies between 25ml and 50ml of Redbush between feeds to prevent and treat colic. They asserted that Redbush was clinically prescribed for babies in South Africa but said they accepted that was not relevant to the EU.

Assessment

1., 2., 3., 5. & 6. Upheld

The ASA noted the comments from The Redbush Tea Company and Pregnancy & birth but considered that, without clinical trials to demonstrate that Redbush could treat the conditions mentioned, the ad exaggerated the benefits of Redbush tea. We noted that there was research to demonstrate that Redbush contained Quercetin, but we did not see evidence that showed the amount of Quercetin in Redbush tea had anti-inflammatory properties. We considered that the claim "can help overcome the symptoms of nausea and headaches commonly found from drinking coffee" implied that Redbush could relieve symptoms of nausea and headaches and not that consumers could avoid those symptoms by replacing coffee with Redbush. We concluded that the ad was misleading.

4. Upheld

We did not see evidence that showed Redbush could safely be added to formula instead of water or that it was clinically prescribed for babies for any purpose. We concluded that the ad was irresponsible.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Social responsibility), 3.1 (Substantiation), 6.1 (Honesty), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 50.1 (Health & beauty products and therapies) and 50.11 (Medicines).

Action

We welcomed The Redbush Tea Company's assurance that the ad would not appear again.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)