Coke and Tango named in report of 'dodgiest' junk food claims of 2011
Brands such as Coca-Cola, Nutella and Chupa Chups under fire over misleading messages in their marketing campaigns
Mark Sweney
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| An animation on the Chupa Chups website implies that its yellow lollipops are made from only real lemon juice |
Food campaigners have named Coca-Cola and the makers of Tango, Chupa Chups and Nutella at the top of a report of brands that have allegedly made the "dodgiest" junk food advertising claims in 2011.
The Children's Food Campaign, which is backed by 150 organisations supporting healthy eating including the British Heart Foundation, found that Chupa Chups was considered to have run the most misleading marketing message of 2011 with 390 votes.
An animation on the Chupa Chups website implied that its yellow lollipops were made from only real lemon juice, when the juice content of the product is just 3%.
Chupa Chups had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Kawther Hashem, director at the CFC, accused the food companies of "shamelessly misleading" consumers by telling "half truths and "made up so-called facts" in advertising and marketing claims.
Coca-Cola's "enhanced water" brand Glaceau came under fire for a claim that its range offers "spring water with fruit juice".
CFC argued this is misleading because only three of eight Glaceau products "contain any form of fruit" – and that those three use concentrate and not fresh juice. Coca-Cola received 142 votes backing the claim as misleading.
A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola said: "We have reviewed our brands section on our UK website and can confirm that one reference relating to fruit juice and Glaceau Vitamin Water is an incorrect description of the brand's ingredients. We acknowledge our error and have removed this reference from our website with immediate effect."
The second most misleading claim of the year fell to the British Soft Drinks Association with 180 votes in the survey.
The BSDA said in an online educational pack for children that "variations in climate and sunshine levels" can affect a crop sugar may be needed to "achieve desired sweetness".
The CFC argued that this is misleading because many drinks contain a lot of sugar which has nothing to do with climate or sunshine levels.
Jill Ardagh, director general of the BSDA, said that the CFC is misleadingly "misrepresenting" its material suggesting that a claim which applies specifically to fruit juice drinks is for all beverages.
"The Children's Food Campaign is misrepresenting information in our educational material which relates only to fruit juice," she said.
"Under the law, only a tiny amount of sugar may be added to fruit juice ... in order to take account of natural variations in sweetness. The CFC should be clear about its facts before it accuses others of making erroneous claims."
Britvic, maker of drinks including Tango, ranked third with 161 votes.
Brtivic ran a claim in its "educational learning zone" website that dentists have said that not drinking enough can lead to "insufficient saliva" which can in turn lead to tooth decay.
The CFC believes this statement is misleading as there should also be a mention of the fact that many soft drinks often contain high amounts of sugar, as well as being acidic, which are major causes of decay and erosion.
Britvic had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Ferrero UK, which makes products including Nutella, received 127 votes in the survey for a claim in a TV ad that highlighted that Nutella contains hazelnuts, skim milk and cocoa but does not mention the high sugar content.
The Nutella TV ad attracted 127 votes in the survey.
The CFC, which is referring the marketing claims to the advertising watchdog for investigation, based the report naming and shaming the brands on a survey of 1,000 consumers.
The survey, conducted by research company Toluna, asked consumers to vote for the five most "misleading" marketing claims.
Ferrero UK was not contacted for a response because the company has already had the claims made in the TV campaign that CFC has highlighted cleared of breaching any marketing rules following an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority earlier this year
The Children's Food Campaign, which is backed by 150 organisations supporting healthy eating including the British Heart Foundation, found that Chupa Chups was considered to have run the most misleading marketing message of 2011 with 390 votes.
An animation on the Chupa Chups website implied that its yellow lollipops were made from only real lemon juice, when the juice content of the product is just 3%.
Chupa Chups had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Kawther Hashem, director at the CFC, accused the food companies of "shamelessly misleading" consumers by telling "half truths and "made up so-called facts" in advertising and marketing claims.
Coca-Cola's "enhanced water" brand Glaceau came under fire for a claim that its range offers "spring water with fruit juice".
CFC argued this is misleading because only three of eight Glaceau products "contain any form of fruit" – and that those three use concentrate and not fresh juice. Coca-Cola received 142 votes backing the claim as misleading.
A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola said: "We have reviewed our brands section on our UK website and can confirm that one reference relating to fruit juice and Glaceau Vitamin Water is an incorrect description of the brand's ingredients. We acknowledge our error and have removed this reference from our website with immediate effect."
The second most misleading claim of the year fell to the British Soft Drinks Association with 180 votes in the survey.
The BSDA said in an online educational pack for children that "variations in climate and sunshine levels" can affect a crop sugar may be needed to "achieve desired sweetness".
The CFC argued that this is misleading because many drinks contain a lot of sugar which has nothing to do with climate or sunshine levels.
Jill Ardagh, director general of the BSDA, said that the CFC is misleadingly "misrepresenting" its material suggesting that a claim which applies specifically to fruit juice drinks is for all beverages.
"The Children's Food Campaign is misrepresenting information in our educational material which relates only to fruit juice," she said.
"Under the law, only a tiny amount of sugar may be added to fruit juice ... in order to take account of natural variations in sweetness. The CFC should be clear about its facts before it accuses others of making erroneous claims."
Britvic, maker of drinks including Tango, ranked third with 161 votes.
Brtivic ran a claim in its "educational learning zone" website that dentists have said that not drinking enough can lead to "insufficient saliva" which can in turn lead to tooth decay.
The CFC believes this statement is misleading as there should also be a mention of the fact that many soft drinks often contain high amounts of sugar, as well as being acidic, which are major causes of decay and erosion.
Britvic had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Ferrero UK, which makes products including Nutella, received 127 votes in the survey for a claim in a TV ad that highlighted that Nutella contains hazelnuts, skim milk and cocoa but does not mention the high sugar content.
The Nutella TV ad attracted 127 votes in the survey.
The CFC, which is referring the marketing claims to the advertising watchdog for investigation, based the report naming and shaming the brands on a survey of 1,000 consumers.
The survey, conducted by research company Toluna, asked consumers to vote for the five most "misleading" marketing claims.
Ferrero UK was not contacted for a response because the company has already had the claims made in the TV campaign that CFC has highlighted cleared of breaching any marketing rules following an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority earlier this year
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/dec/30/coke-tango-report-dodgy-junk-food-claims
