Ad description

A magazine ad, for the Israeli Government Tourist Office, published in May and June stated "THE STORY OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES The masses have always been well fed in Israel. It's a melting pot of races and creeds, whose culinary traditions have turned simple home cooking into world class dishes. Tel Aviv has the highest number of sushi restaurants outside Tokyo. The gastronomic trail in Israel runs through traditional, ethnic, fusion and modern slow food ...".

Issue

1. Three of the readers challenged whether the claim "The masses have always been well fed in Israel" was misleading and likely to cause offence, because they understood that some areas of Israel were subject to food shortages.

2. Three of the readers challenged whether the claim "It's a melting pot of races and creeds" was misleading and likely to cause offence, because they understood that Palestinians in Israel were restricted in movement and excluded from some areas of daily life.

Response

1. & 2. The Israel Government Tourist Office (IGTO) said Israel provided for the hungry but, as with any other country in the world, it suffered disparities in some areas, such as hunger and, for security reasons, the limitation of movement.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted the ad was designed to attract visitors to Israel and focused on promoting the range of foods and restaurants available to tourists. We considered that consumers would understand that, as with any other country in the world, there would always be some inhabitants, who for whatever reason, were less well provided for than some of their fellow citizens. However, we considered that the claim "The masses have always been well fed in Israel" would be understood by consumers to be a play-on-words, based on the Gospel 'the feeding of the 5,000' referred to in the title "THE STORY OF THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES" and that it would therefore be interpreted as a claim about the majority rather than as a claim that every person in Israel was well-fed.

We considered that the claim would not mislead consumers and was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  and  3.6 3.6 Subjective claims must not mislead the consumer; marketing communications must not imply that expressions of opinion are objective claims.  (Misleading advertising),  3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are 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) and  4.1 4.1 Marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. Compliance will be judged on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards.
Marketing communications may be distasteful without necessarily breaching this rule. Marketers are urged to consider public sensitivities before using potentially offensive material.
The fact that a product is offensive to some people is not grounds for finding a marketing communication in breach of the Code.
 (Harm and offence), but did not find it in breach.

2. Not upheld

We understood that the inhabitants of Israel were made up of a number of different ethnic groups and faiths and, as with all societies around the world, inequalities existed. However, we considered that the claim "It's a melting pot of races and creeds" would be understood by consumers to be a reference to the population mix of the country and not a claim that the population necessarily lived in harmony and equality. We considered that, in the context of a tourism ad, the claim was not misleading and would not cause serious or widespread offence.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  and  3.6 3.6 Subjective claims must not mislead the consumer; marketing communications must not imply that expressions of opinion are objective claims.  (Misleading advertising),  3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are 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) and  4.1 4.1 Marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. Compliance will be judged on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards.
Marketing communications may be distasteful without necessarily breaching this rule. Marketers are urged to consider public sensitivities before using potentially offensive material.
The fact that a product is offensive to some people is not grounds for finding a marketing communication in breach of the Code.
 (Harm and offence), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.6     3.7     4.1    


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