Ad description
A video on demand (VOD) ad for Strings & Things, seen on Channel 4 on Demand on 8 May 2024, featured a child jumping into her mum’s shopping bag to eat a packet of Cheestrings. She was then seen floating in a fictional world of Cheestrings. The ad ended with the well-known cartoon cat Garfield, holding cutlery as he said, “Wait for it”. Text on-screen and a voice-over said, “This summer win hundreds of prizes, including a Garfield movie themed trip to California. With Cheestrings and our new pizza flavour. Get a slice of the Garfield action”. Garfield was then seen eating a pizza and said, “Bury me in cheese”. Small print on-screen said, “purchase necessary, promotional packaging and receipt required, online entry only, 21+, ends 28/7/24, T&Cs apply”.
Issue
The complainant, who believed the ad was for a product that was high in fat, salt or sugar (a HFSS product ad) that was targeted through its content directly at pre-school or primary school children, challenged whether it breached the Code because it included a:
- promotional offer; and
- licensed character popular with children.
Response
1. & 2. Kerry Foods t/a Strings & Things believed that the ad was not targeted at pre-school or primary school children, or children of any age, either through the content of the ad or through its scheduling and targeting. They said the target audience was parents, which was reflected by the ad placing the mother, the person who purchased the Cheestrings product, as the central character. They pointed out that the ad opened with the mother putting away the weekly shopping, which they further believed demonstrated that she was in charge. They said the ad, which then went on to bring to life the Cheestrings product the mother had purchased for her child, was ‘grown up’ in tone and believed it was clearly intended for an older audience.
Strings & Things said the section of the ad featuring Garfield informed viewers of the opportunity to win a family holiday as well as other family-orientated prizes, which they believed again showed that the target audience was parents. They added that the character of Garfield was deliberately chosen because of his appeal to adults. They said Garfield originated in the 1970s within a comic strip syndicated to newspapers, the content of which featured predominately adult themes and ideas. They said they intended for the ad to appeal to adult viewers through a sense of nostalgia for the character of Garfield, rather than to appeal directly to children. They reiterated that the ad had in no way been targeted directly at pre-school or primary school children.
Strings & Things said the disclaimer seen throughout that section of the ad, which stated only those aged 21+ were able to enter the promotion, was further evidence that the ad was not intended to be targeted at pre-school or primary school children. They added that the prizes were intended to be of interest to adults rather than children (e.g. a trip to California).They also said they put measures in place to ensure the ad was only viewed by its intended audience, which was parents. The ad was only broadcast on on-demand channels age-gated to logged-in users who were 16 years of age and over, and/or was scheduled not to appear in or around programmes commissioned for under-16s. Furthermore, they said the platform where the ad was seen, Channel 4 on Demand, used various parental controls which further decreased the likelihood of young children viewing the ad. Strings & Things said they double-checked the platform’s metrics and understood that the audience who used it was almost exclusively adults. They therefore believed it would have been highly unlikely that any children (and particularly pre-school or primary school aged children) would have seen the ad.
They said that great care had been taken to ensure the ad was responsible and targeted at parents, and not children. They confirmed that the campaign had finished; they had no plans to broadcast the ad again.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The CAP Code required that HFSS product ads that were targeted through their content directly at pre-school or primary school children (under-12s) must not include a promotional offer. That rule applied to all HFSS product ads whether or not they had been targeted in such a way as to direct them to people aged over 16.
The ASA therefore firstly assessed whether the ad was for a HFSS product; secondly, whether the ad featured a promotional offer; and thirdly, whether the content of the ad was targeted directly at pre-school or primary school children.The ad was for Cheestrings, which was a HFSS product, and was therefore a HFSS product ad. It referred directly to a prize promotion and was therefore a HFSS product ad that featured a promotional offer.
We then assessed whether it was targeted directly at pre-school or primary school children through its content.
We considered that the product itself would have been of interest to some pre-school and primary school children. The ad featured a young girl floating in a shopping bag, surrounded by several giant Cheesestrings. A life-size Cheesestring was then seen playing the saxophone. A voice-over repeatedly sang the phrase “Strings & Things” in a childish-like manner. The ad then transitioned into the promotional section, in which the well-known cartoon cat Garfield was seen eating a pizza. He was also seen riding a cartoon dog and he enthusiastically said, “Bury me in cheese”. Whilst the character of Garfield was first introduced in the 1970s, the timing of the ad coincided with the release of a new Garfield animated film, which had a ‘U’ rating and was likely to be popular with under-12s. We considered those elements of the ad would have also been engaging or appealing to under-12s.
Although we acknowledged the prize promotion, which involved winning a trip to California, would have been appealing to adults, we considered that most of the ad’s content, imagery and tone, as described above, would have been engaging and appealing to children under the age of 12.
For those reasons, we considered the ad was, through its content, targeted directly at pre-school and primary school children.
We therefore concluded that the ad, which was for a HFSS product and through its content was directly targeted at pre-school and primary school children, breached the Code by including a promotional offer.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 15.14 (Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that HFSS product ads that were targeted directly at pre-school or primary school children through their content must not include licensed characters or celebrities that were popular with children. That rule applied to all HFSS product ads whether or not they had been targeted in such a way as to direct them to people aged over 16.
As stated above, the ad was for a HFSS product which, through its content, was targeted directly at pre-school or primary school children.
We therefore considered whether the ad featured a licensed character that was popular with children.
The ad featured Garfield, which we understood was a licensed character. As stated in point 1., although the original character was created in the 1970s, the new U rated Garfield animated film being released around the time the ad was broadcast meant the character was likely to be known by and popular with under-12s.
We concluded that the ad, which was for a HFSS product that was targeted through its content directly at pre-school or primary school children, included a licensed character popular with children and therefore breached the Code.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 15.15 (Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Kerry Foods Ltd t/a Strings & Things to ensure that future ads for HFSS products, which were targeted through their content directly at pre-school or primary school children, must not include promotional offers or feature licensed characters popular with children.
