Coke – Vitamin C plus Tooth Rot
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
The ASA has banned a poster for a vitamin drink produced by Coca-Cola for being misleading. The advert for Vitaminwater claimed “enhanced hydration for the nation delicious and nutritious.”
However, as some people noted, each 500ml bottle contained 23g of sugar – a significant amount. The water is promoted as a health kick because it has added vitamins including 100% of the daily allowance of Vitamin C. Coke has used a quirk in the law that says a “Low Calorie” drink must have less 19 kcal per 100ml. Unfortunately, the law does not put a limit on a “per bottle basis” so if, like coke, you make a bigger bottle of a drink, you can still claim it has low calorie, even though most people will drink the entire bottle.
It Only Takes One Complaint
Aside from Coke trying to be clever, and thankfully not getting away with it, this adjudication by the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) is interesting as they only had three complaints. It is good to know that the ASA work on the basis of the quality of the complaint rather than as a popularity contest. This is in contrast to other organisation in the media who will react only when a significant people complain, rather than because the rules were broken.
So, if you see something, especially advertising food, that is trying to mislead or even telling an outright porkie – Complain! Even if you are the only one, you may still do some good. Details of how to complain can be found here: ASA – How To Complain
ASA Adudication on Coca-Cola: Click Here
BBC Article on the Ad: Click Here
Category Bad Stuff | Tags: Tags: Advert Banned, ASA, Coca-Cola, sugar, VItaminwater,
