The ASA raps Kellogg over snack-bar health claims

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned an ad for Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Soft Oaties because it misleadingly implies the biscuits are healthy.

The press and poster ads use the headline “Wholesome cookie goodness” and highlight that the biscuits are made with oats and wheat, sources of fibre, vitamin and iron.

The watchdog responded to a complaint from consumer magazine Which? It ruled that the ad could imply the biscuits are wholly beneficial to health because it only refers to their nutritious ingredients, and not that the biscuits are also high in sugar and saturated fat.

The ASA adds the “wholesome cookie goodness” claim only enhances the impression that the biscuits are healthier than they are.

Kellogg says the ads make it clear that the product is a cookie and not a healthier snack, and the company believes consumers understand cookies are not on their own beneficial to health.

The watchdog advised Kellogg to consult the Committee of Advertising Practice Advice team before advertising again.

Meanwhile, the ASA dismissed a complaint against Nokia that a television campaign for the mobile phone company’s “Comes With Music” download service is offensive because it negatively portrays transgender and transsexual communities.

The ad, created by Wieden & Kennedy, shows the names of artists and tracks which, when read together, describe the process the transgender and transsexual communities go through to change their identities.

The watchdog ruled the ad does not “stigmatise, humiliate, or undermine those communities by using harmful stereotypes”.