ASA bans British beef and milk adverts after Packham complaint over carbon claims

"British food marketers have been handed a stark warning after the advertising watchdog banned two high-profile campaigns promoting domestic beef and milk, ruling that the carbon footprint claims at their heart could not be substantiated."

"At issue were two adverts trumpeting British beef as having a "carbon footprint that's half the global average" and British milk as producing emissions "a third lower than the global average". Both campaigns referenced the "full lifecycle" of the produce, a phrase that has now proved their undoing."

"The ASA disagreed. The regulator concluded that the adverts implied a cradle-to-grave assessment encompassing farming, retail, consumption and disposal, and that the evidence supplied fell short of supporting claims on that basis. The watchdog acknowledged the practical difficulty of producing post-retail emissions data but said that, where environmental claims are made, the burden of proof rests squarely on the advertiser unless caveats are made plain."

""We acknowledged the potential difficulties in producing post-retail emissions data," the ASA said in its ruling. "The claims in the ads suggeste"

Two British beef and milk advertising campaigns were banned after carbon footprint claims could not be substantiated. The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint against the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s taxpayer-funded campaign. The ads claimed British beef had a carbon footprint “half the global average” and British milk produced emissions “a third lower than the global average,” referencing “full lifecycle” emissions. The board argued consumers would understand the figures to cover only farm-to-retail journeys and cited consumer research supporting that interpretation. The ASA found the ads implied cradle-to-grave assessment including farming, retail, consumption, and disposal, and the evidence provided did not support that scope. The ASA stated that when environmental claims are made, advertisers must hold the burden of proof unless caveats are clearly stated.

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