Ad description

A TV ad for Liberté yogurt featured a voice-over that stated, "Discover Liberté yogurt. So incredibly creamy-tasting, so naturally thick, so liberating."

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the claim "naturally thick" was materially misleading and could be substantiated, because they believed maize or rice starch was added to the product to artificially thicken it.

Response

Yoplait UK Ltd explained that the Liberté yogurt layer used only two ingredients (milk and lactic ferments) as indicated on the natural recipe ingredient list. They said the thicker texture was delivered through a straining process that resulted in a higher protein content than regular yogurt. They said the rice starch appeared on the ingredients list because it was used as part of the fruit puree layer that was separate from the yogurt and the rice starch was from a natural origin. They therefore believed "naturally thick" was a true and fair explanation of the texture of the yogurt layer.

Clearcast said Yoplait had explained that Liberté had a more viscous texture than a regular low fat yogurt that had not been artificially thickened. They said it was naturally thick as no artificial thickeners were used in its production and the straining process gave the product its thick texture without any added thickeners. Clearcast were therefore satisfied that the claim was not misleading.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted rice starch, which was often added to low fat yogurts to artificially thicken them, appeared on the ingredients list for Liberté yogurts. However, we understood that rice starch formed part of the fruit puree layer of the product, rather than the yogurt itself. We considered that consumers were likely to understand that the claim "naturally thick" referred to the yogurt alone rather than the combined yogurt and fruit layer product and we therefore concluded that the claim was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules  3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.    3.2 3.2 Advertisements must not mislead consumers by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that consumers need in context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other means.
   3.5 3.5 Subjective claims must not mislead the audience; advertisements must not imply that expressions of opinion are objective claims.
 (Misleading advertising) and  3.9 3.9 Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.  (Substantiation), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

BCAP Code

3.1     3.2     3.5     3.9    


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