Farming News - Tesco plant-based food advert banned as misleading
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Tesco plant-based food advert banned as misleading
Tesco's adverts for one of its plant-based food ranges have been banned for being misleading about their environmental benefit.
The adverts for the Plant Chef campaign featured a woman biting into a veggie burger, along with the claim it was "better for the planet".
The advert said: “We’ve lowered the price of dozens of our Plant Chef products because a little swap can make a difference to the planet.”
The UK's advertising watchdog said the supermarket's claims had not been substantiated.
The adverts ran during October and November across TV, radio and online, and received 171 complaints from the public, the Advertising Standards Authority said.
The ASA said: "... we understood that Tesco did not hold any evidence in relation to the full lifecycle of any of the products in the Plant Chef range, or of the burger featured in the ads. We were therefore unable to assess the product’s total environment impact over its life cycle compared with that of a meat burger."
Tesco had said that the adverts did not make "absolute environmental claims", as they did not say that the product was "wholly sustainable".The retailer said the focus of the adverts was to highlight price reductions for its Plant Chef vegan food range.
The ASA added that some plant-based products contained a combination of ingredients and had "complex production processes" which could "theoretically result in their having a similar, or greater, negative environmental impact than basic plant ingredients, or a meat-based alternative".
Tesco said in a statement: "We're committed to making it easy and affordable for customers to incorporate plant-based meat alternatives into their diets and recipes."
The ASA said last year it was cracking down on misleading environmental claims made by firms, to ensure ads are "socially responsible."
Many corporations are being accused by environmentalists of "greenwashing", which sees them exaggerate the environmental benefits of their products.
Source BBC