ASA rules that Tesco horsemeat ad was misleading
Tesco has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for a horsemeat apology advert it ran earlier this year.
The two-page press ad with the heading “What burgers have taught us” stated in the second page: “The problem we’ve had with some of our meat lately is about more than burgers and bolognese. It’s about some of the ways we get meat to your dinner table. It’s about the whole food industry”.
Two complaints, one from an independent butcher, challenged the claim “It’s about the whole food industry” and said it was misleading as it implied that there were issues with meat standards across the whole food industry.
In its ruling, the advertising watchdog concluded that the ad had been misleading because relatively few instances of contamination had been identified when it appeared.
The ASA said: “At the time the ad appeared, investigations into food contamination at many retailers and producers had not been concluded and the fact that investigations had begun did not mean those companies were involved in the selling or production of contaminated products. We understood that while some products had been sold, contaminated with meat not shown on the label, this was not widespread as only a small number of products had tested positive for horse meat and others had tested negative.
“Because the ad implied that all retailers and suppliers were likely to have sold products contaminated with horse meat, and because relatively few instances of contamination had been identified at the time the ad appeared, we concluded the ad was misleading.”
In its defence, Tesco had said it accepted that not everyone in the food industry had been implicated in the selling of food containing traces of horsemeat and that it had not referred to any other retailer, supplier or producer in the ad. It also said the ad had focused solely on Tesco and that this was how the average consumer would interpret it, which was reinforced by wording such as “The problem we’ve had”, “our meat” and “the ways we get meat to your dinner table”.
In addition, the supermarket said the claim acknowledged that Tesco had not “operated in a vacuum” and that systemic failings in the food supply chain had led to the meat contamination.
As a result of the decision, the ASA ruled that the ad should not appear again in its current form.
