Oatly Ads Banned in UK for ‘Misleading’ Environmental Claims
The popular plant-based beverage, Oatly, has recently been told to not repeat some of its advertisements in the United Kingdom after complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) were upheld, according to BBC News.
Over the past year, the company has run a series of advertisements that have compared the carbon footprint of meat and dairy to Oatly’s plant-based beverage. The bold claims generated attention from the public and the campaign group, A Greener World. After the advertisements ran, more than 100 separate complaints began to trickle in, leading the ASA to its current investigation.
Two television commercials, which portrayed children questioning their father’s decision to drink cow’s milk, claimed that, “Oatly generates 73% less C02e vs. milk, calculated from grower to grocer.”
According to BBC News, the ASA said the television ad was misleading because Oatly based the claim on comparing one of its products, Oatly Barista Edition, with full cream milk. The ASA said consumers would understand the claim to include all of Oatly's products instead of this specific product.
"It's clear that we could have been more specific in the way we described some of the scientific data," said Oatly spokesman Tim Knight.
To add to the fire, a social media ad campaign from the company stated that, “The dairy and meat industries emit more CO2e than all the world’s planes, trains, cars, boats, etc., combined.”
However, the ASA said this was not a fair comparison. The company compared the full lifecycle of the meat and dairy industry, which included emissions from producing feed, using fertilizers, and transporting the food, with figures from the transport industry which only reflected emissions coming directly from the vehicles.
Furthermore, two Oatly advertisements published in newspapers stated that, “Today, more than 25% of the world's greenhouse gases are generated by the food industry, and meat and dairy account for more than half of that.”
Once again, the ASA did not support this claim, saying that it was misleading because Oatly held meat and dairy to include fish and eggs, whereas consumers might assume it referred to a narrower definition. Oatly said it has no plans to repeat the claim and has removed posts making similar claims from its own social media channels.
According to BBC News, the ASA has it made clear it will take a tougher stance on firms making environmental statements. The regulating body said last year it would be scrutinizing such claims closely and has already ruled against a Lipton tea ad which claimed its plastic bottles were "100% recycled plastic" while the small print explained that did not include the lid or label.
