Ad description
The website www.honeymonster.co.uk, for a breakfast cereal, included the claims "YUMMY HONEY GOODNESS FOR A MONSTERFIED BREAKFAST … 20% MORE HONEY". The ad also included references to the nutritional content of the product.
Issue
The Children's Food Campaign (Sustain) challenged the claim "HONEY GOODNESS", on the basis that it was a general health claim not accompanied by a specific authorised health claim.
Response
Halo Foods Ltd said they were in the process of re-launching the brand. As part of that, they had increased the amount of honey, a natural sweetener, while reducing the amount of sugar. It was that message they were communicating on their website. They said they provided detailed information about the product's ingredients both on the pack and on their website, in recognition of the importance of consumers being able to make an informed choice about the nutritional content of products they purchased. In addition, they were transparent about the sugar content of the product. They were committed to being responsible and did not intend to make any specific health claims in association with honey. They therefore amended their website to remove any reference to "GOODNESS".
Assessment
Upheld
According to EC Regulation 1924/2006 on Nutrition and Health Claims made on Foods (the Regulation), which was reflected in the CAP and BCAP Codes, references to general benefits of a nutrient or food for overall good health or health-related well-being were acceptable only if accompanied by a specific authorised health claim.
The ASA acknowledged that Halo Foods had amended the ad. However, we noted it included a reference to a general, non-specific health benefit of the product, "HONEY GOODNESS". The claims that accompanied it, which related to the nutritional content of the product, took the form of nutrition claims as defined by the Regulation. Because general health claims were acceptable only if accompanied by a specific authorised health claim, rather than nutrition claims, we concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 15.2 15.2 References to general benefits of a nutrient or food for overall good health or health-related well-being are acceptable only if accompanied by a specific authorised health claim. (Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Halo Foods Ltd to ensure that in future they made claims about general benefits of a nutrient or food only if they were accompanied by a specific authorised health claim.
