Kellogg Company of GB Ltd t/a Kelloggs The Kellogg Building Talbot Road Manchester M16 0PU Number of complaints: 3

Date: 17 October 2007 Media: Television Sector: Food and drink Agency: JWT

Ad
A TV ad for Kellogg's Special K Sustain featured a woman making a presentation in a meeting room. As she was talking she lost concentration and imagined that the diagram she was pointing to was a real pie. The ad then showed the woman with a colleague in a polka dot dress. As the colleague walked away the woman imagined that the dots on the dress had turned into cakes. A female voice-over said "If you've only got one thing on your mind before lunch, you should try new Special K Sustain". The woman was shown watching another colleague on the phone and imagining that his handset was a baguette. The ad then featured the woman at home having a bowl of Special K Sustain as the voice-over continued "Delicious new Special K Sustain contains extra protein and fibre. See if it can keep you satisfied for longer". Text at the bottom of the screen stated "Protein and fibre have been shown to have an important role in satiety. Each 40g serving/bowl contains 5.6g of protein and 5g of fibre which makes a significant contribution. Enjoy as part of your balanced diet and healthy lifestyle". The woman was then shown, back at the office, walking past a trolley of biscuits, cakes and pastries, which she nudged into a waiting lift. The voice-over said "New Special K Sustain. It's called special for a reason".

Issue
Three viewers challenged whether the claim "contains extra protein and fibre" was misleading because the product contained less protein than Special K original, with which they believed it was being compared.

BCAP TV Advertising Code:

5.1;5.2.1;5.2.2

Response
Kellogg Company of Great Britain Ltd (Kellogg) said the aim of the ad was to highlight that Special K Sustain had been specifically formulated to contain a source of protein and fibre which could help maintain satiety. They submitted evidence which compared the level of protein per serving of Special K Sustain with nine comparative leading value sales cereal brands, including Special K original. This showed that Special K Sustain contained 5.6 g of protein per 40 g serving, in comparison to 4.5 g of protein per 30 g serving for the cereal with the next highest level of protein, which was Special K original. Kellogg also sent evidence which compared the cereals on a consistent serving size of 30 g. They said that, at 4.2 g of protein per 30 g serving size, Special K Sustain contained 68% more protein than the 2.5 g average protein content per serving of the other cereals. Kellogg said that, for this reason, they did not believe the claim "with extra protein and fibre" was misleading.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) said they had been concerned about the comparative claims originally made in the ad. They said that an earlier version of the script had an end line which read "sustain yourself for longer", but that this had been rejected in favour of the simple challenge "see if it can keep you satisfied for longer". The BACC said they had consulted an independent nutritionist who recommended that the ad's original claim, "packed with protein and fibre", should be changed to "with extra protein and fibre". The nutritionist advised that the use of "extra" was justified because Kellogg had shown that Special K Sustain was higher in protein than their other cereals.

Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the evidence provided by Kellogg showed that a 40 g serving of Special K Sustain contained more protein than 30 g servings of Special K original and other leading cereal brands. We considered, however, that the extra amount of protein in Special K Sustain could be provided by the larger suggested serving size, rather than the make-up of the product itself. We noted that Kellogg had also provided evidence which compared Special K Sustain with the other cereals on a consistent serving size of 30 g. We understood, however, that Kellogg had taken an average protein content from across all the other cereals including Special K original in order to compare them with Special K Sustain. We considered that consumers would expect a comparison to be made on a like-for-like basis, and that an individual serving of Special K Sustain would be likened to individual servings of each other cereal brand. We understood from Kellogg's documentation that a 30 g serving of Special K original contained 4.5 g of protein, more than the 4.2 g of protein provided by the same serving of Special K Sustain. We also understood that, when standardised to the 40 g recommended serving size of Special K Sustain, Special K original also contained more protein, providing 6 g per serving compared to Sustain's 5.6 g. Because of that, and because the basis of the comparison made in the ad was unclear, we concluded that the phrase "contains extra protein and fibre" was misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.2.2 (Implications).

Action
We told Kellogg not to broadcast the ad again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)