An advertisement for Arla organic milk has been banned for using a 'misleading' claim, stating that its production is good for the land, according to Farming UK.
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the advert after the regulator upheld a consumer complaint.
The advertisement stated that the organic milk was ‘helping support a more sustainable future’ - but the regulator deemed this to be misleading, according to reports.
Concerns
Farming UK reports that a consumer complained on the grounds that ‘all forms of dairy farming, including rearing cows under an organic system, are bad for the environment’.
The National Farmers Union's Dairy Board chairman, Michael Oakes, said that the ruling was "disappointing".
"It's been a long-held belief that that organic farming does hold benefits,” he said. "We are frustrated with how the ASA works, and we'd be really interested to learn how they reach these decisions."
'Overall Positive Impact'
Arla submitted evidence from the Soil Association that backed up its claims. The association said that organic farms use fewer chemicals and wildlife is encourages, which is ‘better for the land’.
However, a statement from the ASA said that consumers could misinterpret this claim:
"We acknowledged that Arla had provided evidence regarding the organic farming methods used and that they believed this was more sustainable than non-organic farming," it said.
"However, we did not consider they had substantiated that organic milk production had an overall positive impact on the environment, taking into account its full life cycle. We therefore concluded that the claim was misleading."
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
