The nutrition brand and app Zoe has been told by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) not to describe its supplement products as ‘UPF-free’ in a ruling this week that Zoe founder Professor Tim Spector has called “disgraceful”.
The ruling follows a complaint about a paid-for Facebook ad for Zoe’s Daily30+ supplement which carried an endorsement from the entrepreneur (an Zoe investor) Steve Bartlett stating: “This is a supplement revolution. No ultra-processed pills, no shakes, just real food. Steven Barlett [sic].” The ad text also described the product as a “wholefood supplement” and stated that it contained chicory inulin.
‘UPF-free’?
The complainant, a professor in nutrition and food science, challenged whether the claims made for Daily30+ misleadingly implied that the product did not contain any ultra-processed ingredients.
The ASA’s eventual ruling on the complaint hinged on two particular ingredients contained in the product formulation – chicory root inulin and nutritional yeast flakes. Both of these, it said, “were not whole foods and had been through more than a minimal level of processing”. Nutritional yeast was manufactured, and chicory root inulin was extracted using an industrial process, the regulator concluded. Neither, it said, could accurately be described as “minimally processed”, and both would likely be understood by consumers as ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
Following an assessment of the claims, and taking into consideration Zoe’s detailed response to the complaint, the ASA ruled that product claims “implied the product did not contain any ingredients that consumers would interpret as ultra-processed when that was not the case, and was therefore likely to mislead”. It has therefore instructed Zoe “not to make claims that their products did not contain UPFs ingredients if consumers were likely to interpret the ingredients to be ultra-processed”.
‘Disgraceful’ ruling
Zoe co-founder Professor Tim Spector told The Grocer the ASA’s ruling was “nothing short of disgraceful” and that the ruling “only adds to the confusion in a food system already plagued by misleading information.” Zoe’s chief marketing and commercial officer, Bob Sherwin, said that the ASA’s ruling was “a warning sign”, adding: “When regulation fails to evolve with the science, it rewards those who game the system and penalizes those who try to raise the bar. Daily30+ was created to make it easier for people to eat a wider range of plants. We designed the product carefully. We communicated it thoughtfully. We ran a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). And now, it’s being challenged—not for what it is, but for how it might be perceived.”
The ASA do as they’re told. In 1993 when I launched the first margarine that contained no hydrogenated fat called ‘Whole Earth Superspread’ we made much of the fact that it was hydrogenated fat (trans fats) free. Unilever complained to the ASA. We then showed the ASA all the latest research that validated our concerns about hydrogenated fat and evidenced the harm it did to heart health. It was powerful evidence and so the ASA took a different tack: they said the Advertising Codes didn’t allow using ‘fear’ as an advertising tool and so the fear of dying fell under that prohibition and we had to stop advertising. Unilever won. Then in 2003 Denmark banned hydrogenated fat in food. Within 12 years heart disease deaths had fallen by 60%. Too late for Whole Earth but millions of lives have been saved, despite the ASA. Tim Spector is facing the same problem.