The UK regulator has banned an M&M’s ad, ruling one of its brand characters breached the country's rules on the promotion of less healthy food.
The ad appeared on Instagram and featured the confectionery brand’s round green and oval yellow cartoon mascots.
Food campaigning group Bite Back challenged the ad for violating the UK regulations.
Effective since January, the rules ban paid promotions for foods and drinks high in fat, salt, and sugar on television before the 9pm watershed and across paid online advertising at any time.
In April, supermarket chains Iceland Foods and Lidl were among the first to have their ads banned for breaking the new rules.
In its decision announced today (8 July), the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the yellow M&M’s character represented an “identifiable” less healthy product.
The watchdog concluded the yellow character represented Peanut M&M’s specifically because of its yellow colour and oval shape.
“We considered that, because of their distinct shape, the oval M&M’s characters, including the yellow one featured in the ad, depicted Peanut M&M’s,” the ASA said.
In response, M&M’s owner Mars said the characters were meant to promote the M&M’s brand overall rather than depict any individual product.
“There were no visual or text elements in the ad that would enable a reasonable consumer to identify the ad as being for a particular “less healthy” food or drink product”, it said.
The company also highlighted the “highly stylised, animated” nature of the mascots, saying they have “human traits including arms, legs, facial expressions and distinct personalities”.
It further argued both the green and yellow mascots appeared independently in the ad, without packaging, product name or descriptive cues.
“Neither the shape nor colour of the characters would enable a reasonable consumer to identify a specific product that was high in fat, salt or sugar.”
The ASA ordered Mars to ensure the ad does not appear again and instructed the company not to include brand characters that depict specific “less healthy” products in future ads.
While the regulator found the yellow character breaking the new rules, it ruled that the green character shown in the same ad did not depict a specific product.
Instead, it said the green M&M’s mascot, along with the other round mascots, represents a range of flavour variants rather than one specific less healthy product.
A spokesperson for the company's Mars Wrigley business in the UK and Ireland said: "We acknowledge the decision of the Advertising Standards Authority in relation to this specific advertisement and have acted promptly to comply with the ruling.
"The decision relates to a particular way the M&M’s characters were used in a specific advertisement, under the UK's new restrictions on the advertising of food and drink products. We welcome the clarity that the ASA's ruling offers. We remain committed to using our brand assets responsibly and in line with all applicable regulations, and will continue to follow regulatory guidance closely.
"We are confident in our ability to adapt our creative approach where needed and to ensure our future advertising continues to meet expectations."
