The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dismissed a complaint alleging that a cereal advertisement shown at the beginning of a “U-rated” film “condoned or encouraged poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle in children” and “disparaged good dietary practice.” Although Kellogg Marketing and Sales Company (UK) Ltd. included on-screen text stating the sugar content of the product and emphasizing the importance of a varied diet and lifestyle, ASA argued that the Coco Pops Rocks ad in question, which featured brand equity characters and aired before a movie, would appeal to children, “who would not have the reading comprehension skills or relevant knowledge to be able to interpret and understand the information about the sugar content of the product and that it should be eaten as part of a varied diet and active lifestyle.” “We also considered that, in the context of the exciting action in the visuals of the ad,…
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The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and Corporate Accountability International (CAI) published an April 25, 2014, letter to U.S.Department of Agriculture (USDA) School Programs Branch Chief Julie Brewer, criticizing a proposed rule that would require schools “to implement policies for the marketing of foods and beverages on the school campus during the school day consistent with nutrition standards for Smart Snacks.” According to the letter, the proposal not only gives a “green light” to food marketing in schools, but “opens the floodgates for many other types of marketing in schools.” Claiming that “the commercialization of childhood is linked to a host of problems facing children today that extend well beyond the consumption of unhealthy foods,” CCFC and CAI have asked USDA to acknowledge that “commercial-free school environments are preferable to those that allow marketing.” The letter also takes issue with the agency’s “Smart Snacks” program, alleging that the nutrition…
A federal magistrate in Florida has decided that the opinion proffered by the plaintiffs’ expert in litigation challenging “brain health” marketing claims for algal-derived DHA Omega-3 fortified milk products is unreliable, thus granting the defendant’s motion to exclude it. In re Horizon Organic Milk Plus DHA Omega-3 Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 12-2324 (S.D. Fla., order entered April 28, 2014). The ruling affects claims brought by consumers in six states alleging that the defendant violated state laws by falsely claiming that the DHA in its products “Supports Brain Health” and “Supports a Healthy Brain,” and that “competent, scientific evidence shows that these claims are false.” While the court found that most of the defendant’s arguments in support of exclusion went to the weight of the testimony rather than its admissibility, it agreed that the expert failed to show how small studies involving 49 women and 658 children in the…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint claiming that alcohol ads were shown during YouTube videos intended for children. According to the agency, a series of children’s nursery rhyme videos featured advertisements for liquors sold by Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC (Morrisons) even though both the company and YouTube took action “to prevent alcohol content from being served during content that was family-friendly.” Despite these precautions and YouTube’s warning that users should not access accounts “that declared they were over 18 years of age if they were watching YouTube with a minor,” ASA ruled that the ads in question violated CAP Code rules governing social responsibility, children and alcohol. “The ASA noted that both Morrisons and YouTube had processes in place that were intended to ensure that ads for alcohol were not directed at those under 18 years of age,” it explained. “However, we considered that the YouTube video…
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has reportedly dismissed a complaint about a controversial National Health Service advertisement showing a tumor growing in the bottom of a beer glass with the tag line “the more often you drink, the more you increase your risk of developing cancer.” Promoted by the alcohol awareness charity Balance and shown in a section of England reported to have the country’s highest rates of alcohol related health problems, the advertisement depicts a man preparing a meal and pouring a beer into a glass. As the man drinks the beer, a tumor appears to slowly grow at the bottom of the glass and slide toward his mouth. A voice-over then states, “The World Health Organization classifies alcohol as a group one carcinogen … The more you drink and the more often you drink, the more you increase your risk of developing cancer.” Calling the ad “misleading and irresponsible,…
A recent analysis conducted by University of Liverpool researchers and commissioned by the campaign group Action on Junk Food Marketing has suggested that children in the United Kingdom are “bombarded” with as many as 11 junk-food advertisements during one hour of prime-time, family-oriented TV. Noting that almost one out of four TV ads shown between 8 and 9 p.m. promote unhealthy supermarket products, fast food, candy, and chocolate, the advocacy group, which includes the Children’s Food Campaign and British Heart Foundation, also observed that one-third of the ads conclude by showing a website or a Twitter hashtag—a reportedly popular way of targeting teenagers. Campaigners have asked the government to ban junk-food ads until after 9 p.m. and establish rules to prohibit Internet marketing. See BBC.com, March 20, 2014.
A federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) court in California has granted POM Wonderful’s motion to decertify a class of claimants alleging that they were misled by health-benefit representations for the company’s pomegranate juice. In re POM Wonderful LLC Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2199 (C.D. Cal., order entered March 25, 2014). Details about the motion appear in Issue 516 of this Update. According to a news source, the court found that (i) the plaintiffs’ two damages models failed to support a class action, and (ii) claims that consumers allegedly paid an inflated price for the company’s juice failed to explain how the company’s health-benefit representations caused damage. As to the practical effects of proceeding as a class action, the court reportedly stated, “Here, Plaintiffs acknowledge that, based on the volume of product sold, every adult in the United States is a potential class member. These millions of consumers paid…
The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) has published a March 2014 report titled Schoolhouse Commercialism Leaves Policymakers Behind, which claims that the education system and its policymakers continue “to grant corporate marketers ‘widespread access to students’… through mechanisms that range from delivering marketing messages through appropriated school space and property to a variety of other strategies.” Authored by University of Colorado researchers, the 16th annual report seeks to map “the legislative landscape relative to school commercialism,” relying on legislative and non-legislative databases, interviews, media reports, and other sources to gather information on new forms of school marketing, the reactions of policymakers to school marketing arrangements, and the position of education policy organizations toward these arrangements. In particular, the report finds that little state or federal legislation related to school marketing was passed in 2012 or 2013. In previous years, notes the report, legislators have responded to school marketing by passing bills…
According to a news source, counsel for POM Wonderful LLC has urged federal district court Judge Dean Pregerson to decertify the nationwide class action he certified in consolidated false advertising multidistrict litigation, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Comcast v. Behrend and the plaintiffs’ failure to establish a valid damages model supported the company’s request. In re POM Wonderful LLC Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2199 (C.D. Cal., motion argued March 3, 2014). Additional information about the court’s decision to certify the class appears in Issue 457 of this Update. While the judge did not rule on the motion, he apparently expressed skepticism about whether the plaintiffs would be able to establish that class members purchased the juice for its various advertised health benefits only, rather than buying it for other reasons, such as taste, color or shelf location. He also reportedly asked whether the class certification…
Saudi Arabia authorities have reportedly prohibited the sale of energy drinks at all government, education, sports, and health facilities and outlawed all forms of advertising, including the sponsorship of any sporting, social or cultural events by energy drink companies. Expected to significantly affect what industry experts cite as one of the world’s top 10 markets for energy drinks, the action follows a recent Interior Ministry study highlighting the purported “adverse effects of energy drinks.” The ban on advertisements and promotions includes all print, audio and visual media, and the new regulations will require companies to put health warning labels on energy drink products. See Alarabiya.net, March 5, 2014.
