Nesquik Told To Remove Claim That Encourages Poor Nutritional Habits in Children

24 Dec 2015 --- The UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has upheld a complaint by the Children’s Food Campaign (Sustain) and ordered Nestlé’s Nesquik Hot Chocolate sold by supermarket chain ASDA to remove the advertising slogan ‘For A Great Start To The Day!’ from its own-label product, citing that it implied a ‘general benefit of the product for overall good health or health-related well-being’. It has ordered Nestlé UK and ASDA, which said it had nothing to do with the ad, to remove the marketing.

In the two-pronged complaint, The Children’s Food Trust complained that the ad, in particular the child-friendly equity brand character and the claim "For a great start to the day", encouraged poor nutritional habits in children. Another complaint, in which the organisation, which campaigns for good nutrition for children, claimed that the promotional offer was irresponsible because it ran during a period when ASDA’s own brand milk was promoted with the “Sugar Swaps change4life” logo on the mySupermarket website, was not upheld.

Nestlé UK Ltd said they did not believe the ad encouraged poor nutritional habits in children. They said the label was targeted at adults who were shopping for their family, rather than at children. The ad’s positioning on the label meant the majority, if not all of it, could not be seen when the milk sat on the supermarket shelf. It was, therefore, unlikely that children would have been exposed to it before it was purchased. They acknowledged that the brand character might appeal to children, but said it was used to promote the product as part of a balanced diet.

They said the claim “For a great start to the day!” did not encourage excessive consumption of the product, or any other poor nutritional habit, and suggested the positioning of the ad on a family-sized bottle of milk made it clear that the product should be consumed over a number of days, rather than in excess. They said the claim “For a great start to the day!” highlighted Nesquik as a potential breakfast option for the whole family, to be considered alongside other breakfast foods. This did not imply it was the only option, that it should be exclusive to breakfast, consumed every day, or multiple times a week, or that more than one serving should be consumed in a day. However, they said that provided an individual’s sugar intake from other sources was moderated, Nesquik could provide an important source of calcium and other nutrients for children, particularly those who might not like the taste of plain milk. The text “Nutri-Start” referred to the presence of vital nutrients in the product, which were referred to in the ad, and “complementing milk” was depicted as part of the same jigsaw puzzle as both of those elements, highlighting that the product complemented milk in terms of taste and nutrition.

They explained the guideline for preparing the drink was three teaspoons of Nesquik for 200 ml of semi-skimmed milk. Nestlé provided details of the percentages of nutrients contained in a typical Nesquik milk drink in comparison with the UK reference intake (RI) for children four to six and seven to ten years of age. They pointed out that a serving of Nesquik chocolate provided 39% of protein and 56% of the RI for calcium for children aged four to six years. They also provided detailed information about the benefits of drinking milk, including that a 200 ml glass of semi-skimmed milk provided 182 ml of water and 7 g of protein, which were important for hydration and growth respectively, and was also rich in calcium, important for growth and mineralisation of the bone. They provided a quote from the British Dietetic Association, which recommended semi-skimmed milk and said that children should aim for three servings of calcium-rich food a day.

They said a glass of Nesquik was classified as green for all nutrients, with the exception of sugars, under the UK government’s ‘traffic light’ coding system for food packaging. The sugars in Nesquik were classified as red under that system due to the portion being greater than 150 ml.

ASDA Stores Ltd said they had no part in creating or approving the ad, which had been provided directly to ASDA’s milk supplier by Nestlé.

The ASA considered the claim “For a great start to the day!” was in itself ambiguous and might, for example, be interpreted as referring to the enjoyment of the product. However, in the context of the ad, it considered it suggested the product had a general benefit to health, in particular given the text “Nutri-Start”, the references to the nutritional content of the product (“Vit D”, “Zinc” and “Iron”) and also “complementing milk”. In that context, it therefore considered the claim “For a great start to the day!” was likely to be understood as a reference to a general benefit of the product for overall good health or health-related well-being.

The ASA ruled: “The ad must not appear in its current form. We told Nestlé UK Ltd and ASDA Stores Ltd to ensure future marketing communications did not make general health claims in future unless they were accompanied by a related specific authorised claim. We also told them to ensure future ads did not encourage poor nutritional habits in children.”

Malcolm Clark, coordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, responding to the ASA's ruling, said: “Nesquik’s old bunny hasn’t yet learnt new healthier tricks. It is the second time in almost as many years that we have forced Nesquik to change their advertising because it encouraged poor nutritional habits in children and could be seen to mislead parents about the health benefits of such a sugary product.”