Ad description
A TV ad for Lucozade, seen on 8 April 2021, featured a man throwing a Lucozade Energy bottle, including the bottle sleeve and lid, into a green recycling bin marked with a recycling symbol. He then proceeded to walk around whilst hula hooping, listening to music and using his phone. A recycling symbol with the word ‘recycle’ below appeared on-screen towards the end of the ad.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that the Lucozade bottle sleeve could not be recycled, challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that all of the Lucozade bottle was recyclable.Response
Lucozade Ribena Suntory Ltd (Lucozade) said the Lucozade Energy Orange drink featured in the ad consisted of a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottle, a PET sleeve and a cap that was made from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) plastic. They said that all of these materials were technically recyclable. The sleeve did not prevent Lucozade Energy from being recycled.
Lucozade provided information from the Recycling Association and a recycling company, who confirmed that Lucozade Energy bottles had sufficient transparent areas to allow them to be recycled. The recycling company also said that the sleeves were removed during the separation process and were sent to another processor for further recycling, and did not need to be processed differently by local authorities.
Clearcast said the visual of the bottle being thrown in the public recycling bin was to give the message to consumers to recycle where possible. They said that all components of the bottle were recyclable, but that viewers should consider local authority advice and requirements.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the visual of the man throwing a Lucozade Energy bottle into a recycling bin and the on-screen recycling logo to mean that all components of a Lucozade Energy bottle were recyclable.
We understood from the information provided that Lucozade Energy bottles had sufficient transparent area which meant they could be recycled. We also understood that PET bottles with PET sleeves did not need to be sorted any differently by local authorities because the sleeves were removed during the separation process, and were then sent to another processor to be recycled.
We concluded that the information provided demonstrated that all components of a Lucozade Energy bottle, including the plastic sleeve, could be recycled, and the ad was therefore not misleading.
We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.9 3.9 Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is 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 9.2 9.2 The basis of environmental claims must be clear. Unqualified claims could mislead if they omit significant information. (Environmental claims) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action required.
