Rap for Genus over ad
Rap for Genus over ad
By Shelley Wright
THE Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against cattle breeding company Genus for publishing advertisements earlier this year that could have misled farmers.
Two complaints about Genuss advert for the bull MOET Martha Franchise were submitted to the ASA in March by international dairy genetics writer Bruce Jobson.
He contended that Genuss claim that the bull was "one of the top 10 bulls in the world – ever" was misleading and inaccurate. Mr Jobson also complained to the ASA about Genuss use in the advert of a picture of a Franchise maternal sister, sired by the top US bull Slocum, without that fact being identified.
Normal industry practice, he maintained, was to use pictures of a bulls own daughters or its dam.
Publishing its ruling this week, the ASA upheld both complaints.
"The real winners in this case are farmers who will benefit from higher advertising standards that conform to the ASA guidelines, which state that adverts should be legal, honest, decent and truthful," said Mr Jobson.
In its evidence to the ASA, Genus said the advert appeared in the specialist Press and was directed at knowledgeable dairy farmers who were unlikely to be misled.
The company admitted that its claim that Franchise was one of the top 10 bulls was based on its own composite index, rather than the usual PIN, PLI or Type indices.
Arbitrary index
The ASA considered that, without any accompanying explanation of the figures, readers were unlikely to understand this "arbitrary, unofficial index".
It also concluded that Genus could not substantiate its claim for Franchises ranking.
And using a photograph of a Franchise sister in the advert, without any explanation, was likely to mislead readers, the ASA said.
Genus had claimed that because the advert was aimed at promoting its British breeding programme rather than the bull itself, there was no need to identify the cow pictured.
Responding to the ASAs ruling, Genus Breeding managing director Steve Amies said: "It is unfortunate that, in our enthusiasm to demonstrate the success of our British breeding programme, we upset some industry members.
No intent
"We can assure everyone that we were not intending to mislead our customers. In hindsight, the photograph should have been captioned with the animals identity. We recognise the importance of such practices and accept that we were at fault."
Earlier this year, following the publicity surrounding the ASAs investigation, the National Association of Breeders Services, which represents AI companies, devised a new advertising code of practice.
Mr Amies said as a member of NABS, Genus supported the code and fully intended to abide by it.