The UK’s advertising watchdog has rejected claims that Heinz misled the public in ads for its Farmers’ Market soups.
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The Advertising Standards Authority today (26 March) cleared Heinz of misleading consumers in its press ads.
The ads has promoted the soups as “great-tasting hearty soups made using selected wholesome ingredients that you would find at a Farmers’ Market”.
A further advert said the soups contained “selected ingredients from the UK and other countries inspired by Farmers’ Markets”.
The ads angered local food makers and farmers markets in the UK. Sustain, Hampshire Farmers’ Markets, The Real Jam and Chutney Co., Pollen Organics Ltd complained that the ads implied the ingredients used in the soups came from farmers’ markets.
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By GlobalDataThe bodies also claimed the ads “exploited the reputation” of farmers’ markets, people’s understanding of the term and the associations with locally grown, naturally reared produce sold by the grower.
Heinz argued that interpreting the ads to mean that the ingredients for their Farmers’ Market soups were actually sourced from farmers’ markets would be wholly inconsistent with consumers’ knowledge that their soup was a product sold on a very large scale by a multinational corporation.
The US food giant added that the practical impossibility of sourcing the ingredients for the soups from farmers’ markets would be obvious to consumers and that research had shown shoppers were not confused about where the ingredients might come from.
The ASA concurred and concluded that the ads were unlikely to mislead and no further action is necessary.
