ASA Cans Heinz Over Misleading Health Claims

The ASA has partially upheld complaints against a series of ads for Heinz which claimed that its canned food has some of the same health benefits as fresh fruit and vegetables.

The press and outdoor ads for baked beans, tomato soup and spaghetti featured the strapline “5 A Day The Heinz Way” and suggested that certian Heinz tinned food could replace two of the recommended five portions of fresh food and vegetables as part of a healthy diet.

The Food Commission objected to the ads on the grounds that unlike fresh fruit and vegetables, tins of beans and spaghetti contain relatively high levels of added sugar, fat and salt. It also argued that the ads were misleading as they implied that foods such as Baked Beans could replace the natural goodness of fresh produce.

Heinz argued that its products could form part of a healthy, balanced diet and provided research which confirmed that the reconstituted fruit and vegetable content of its tomato soup equated to at least two portions of fruit and vegetables.

The ASA concluded that the suggestion that the advertised products counted towards more than one portion of the recommended five daily portions of fruit and vegetables exaggerated the contribution of the advertised products as part of a healthy, balanced diet. The Authority warned the advertiser not to make similar claims in the future.

Food advertising has proved something of a sticky subject recently and earlier this month over 130 MPs rallied behind the Children’s Television Advertising Bill, which plans to ban ads for food aimed at the under-5s (see MPs Push To Ban Food Ads Aimed At Children).

ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk

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