ASA Adjudication on The International Centre for Nutritional Excellence Ltd

Ad

A magazine insert leaflet, for the International Centre for Nutritional Excellence, was headed "CALF COLOSTRUM ... DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUYING? WHAT TO LOOK FOR, WHAT ARE THE DANGERS?". A table showed test results from samples of calf colostrum powder from a number of manufacturers. Text underneath the table stated "Three separate batches from each company were tested to ensure a completely fair representation of their product was analysed. Each batch was tested to determine if it was EBL [Enzootic Bovine Leukosis] free ... With regard to EBL as the table clearly shows some products available in the UK market are still not EBL free ...".

Issue

Net-Tex Industries challenged whether the leaflet misleadingly implied that their product contained the virus that caused EBL, because they understood that the tests were for EBL antibodies and not for the virus itself.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

Response

The International Centre for Nutritional Excellence (ICNE) said they designed the leaflet under guidance of the EC Council Directive on animal health problems, which only related to the EBL virus. They said they had no intention to mislead and had since reviewed and amended the leaflet to clarify that the test was for EBL antibodies and not the EBL virus.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the leaflet claimed that the test results had shown that a number of the listed products contained the EBL virus and welcomed the actions taken by ICNE to amend the leaflet in order to make clear that the tests were for the EBL antibody. However, we considered that, because the leaflet claimed that the test results had shown that some products contained the EBL virus when they did not, it gave a misleading impression of the contents of the calf colostrum powders tested. We therefore concluded that the leaflet was misleading.

The leaflet breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.33 (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).

Action

The leaflet must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)