Meatless Farm pulls vegan adverts after AHDB complaint

A Yorkshire-based plant burger and vegan sausage maker has withdrawn adverts that claimed going vegan boosts your mental and physical health.

The Meatless Farm claimed going plant-based boosted 40-year-old nurse Anne’s energy, mental and physical health, and made firefighter Jur, 52, mentally and physically stronger, and by switching to a plant-based diet you too could “unleash your beast within”.

The company ran a series of adverts across social media making the claims during September and October.

See also: Farmer wins in ‘David v Goliath’ battle with Oatly

But following a complaint by AHDB to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), it has now withdrawn the adverts.

In its complaint to the ASA, the levy body said the adverts did not comply with advertising codes, specifically good health claims must be supported by authorised health claims or made by a national medical or nutrition body, or health charity.

After reviewing, the ASA agreed the adverts broke their advertising rules and requested Meatless Farm to no longer use the adverts and remove any still in use.

The AHDB said the complaint forms part of a whole body of work it has carried out to challenge misinformation, to provide UK-specific evidence to the media and beyond, and to ensure a level playing field within advertising.

Earlier this year, the AHDB contacted Oatly following its highly publicised “Help Dad” campaign to highlight inaccuracies in its claim “global livestock emit more GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions than all transport combined”. Oatly subsequently corrected the claim.

Compliance

Phil Maiden, AHDB spokesman, said: “Advertising rules are there to ensure fairness and transparency for consumers, in which AHDB takes an enormous amount of time and effort to ensure compliance.

“This very much proved invaluable following the 500 complaints made against our own We Eat Balanced TV advert earlier this year.

“This most recent result is excellent for AHDB and our levy payers, who, by all accounts, really value the work we do in this area.

“We continually work to challenge misinformation in the media and advertising, as well as working with the media to encourage balanced reporting and the use of UK-based facts and data.”

A Meatless Farm spokesperson said: “This was a small campaign featuring a variety of people in demanding jobs. The nurse featured was a real nurse giving her own personal experience of eating plant-based alternatives, backed up with the findings of a published randomised controlled scientific study.

“It had already come to the end of its planned live run date prior to the complaint from the AHDB as part of their ongoing campaign of raising ASA complaints against alternative protein brands such as Oatly, so we didn’t need to make any changes to scheduled activity. 

“Our quest at Meatless Farm is to make it easier and tastier for people to reduce their meat consumption for the demonstrable benefits of the planet and their health, so we will continue to share all of the inspiring evidence and information that supports that ambition.”