'A Greener World'? Meat and dairy lobby group wins against Oatly ads
Oatly’s ads have been banned over ‘misleading’ environmental claims.
It’s important to make sure ‘green claims’ made in adverts are accurate. But regardless of whether we agree with the individual rulings made by the ASA, by failing to investigate major polluters like Easyjet and McDonalds, is the regulator taking an overly narrow view on the ads it does investigate and missing the bigger pollution picture?
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned ads by a plant-based products company for the second time in four months. Oatly’s adverts “Need help talking to dad about milk?” include teenagers sympathising with each other over their dad’s (dairy) milk intake and catching dad out as he surreptitiously puts a bottle of milk in the fridge.
The ads also made claims about the environmental impact of oat drink compared to dairy milk, including “Oatly generates 73% less CO2e vs. milk” with a link to reports commissioned by CarbonCloud, an independent organisation that calculates the greenhouse gas emissions associated over a product’s life cycle. Another claim read: “Climate experts say cutting dairy and meat products from our diets is the single biggest lifestyle change we can make to reduce our environmental impact”. This referred to the findings of a comprehensive meta-analysis published in the respected academic journal Science.
Oatly’s ads received 109 complaints, including from the campaign group A Greener World, a group that champions ‘sustainable’ meat and dairy farming in the UK. In a highly detailed ruling, the ASA picks apart the ads, finding reasons to refute Oatly’s science-based claims that at times feel more than a bit forced.
Above: a complaint against an Alpro’s almond drink advert was upheld in October 2021
This decision follows a similar ban on ads by Alpro, a Belgium-based company that makes plant-based products. In October 2021, after a single complaint, the ASA ruled that Alpro’s ‘Good for the planet’ ads for almond drink were misleading because the basis of the claim ‘good for the planet’ was not clear. Just one month later, the regulator chose not to investigate complaints regarding an ad by Easyjet, Europe’s most polluting airline, that carried the headline “Destination Zero Emissions” - despite no verifiable basis for this claim. Easyjet’s greenwashing ad campaign occurred at the time of COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, just after the regulator stated it would “crack down on greenwash”.
Above: No investigation was launched regarding EasyJet’s adverts in October 2021
Siding with the meat and dairy lobby?
A pattern of ASA rulings within the food and drink industries also suggests a lack of big picture thinking. The EAT-Lancet commission and others have called for a move to plant-based diets to meet global emissions reduction targets. And, in response to growing public concern over climate breakdown, the ASA has stated an intent to help citizens make environmentally-friendly choices through responsible advertising. But the regulator has since banned adverts by Oatly and Alpro, two companies that produce plant-based alternatives – while defending adverts for industrial-scale animal farming.
Above: 487 complaints to the above red meat advert were not upheld by the ASA
At the same time as Oatly’s “Need help talking to dad about milk?” ads, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) released a £1.5 million pro-meat and dairy ad campaign, with messaging including "To keep you and your family healthy it’s best to follow a balanced diet. Meat and dairy naturally provide nutrients, including the essential vitamin B12 not naturally present in a vegan diet." Despite a massive 487 complaints, no action was taken.
Also in 2021, the ASA refused to take action against ads for Noble Foods’ Happy Eggs after a PETA investigation unearthed animal abuse on Noble’s supplying farms that was in stark contrast to the (misleadingly) happy chickens shown in the ads.
In November 2021, a complaint made about McDonald’s ads stating "Together we're helping to make farming more sustainable", considered to be misleading from a company whose business model is predicated on mass-scale farming of animal products, was not even investigated.
Above: no investigation was launched into complaints made against McDonalds sustainability adverts during the UN climate talks in Glasgow in November 2021.
Missing the bigger polluter picture
It’s important to make sure ‘green claims’ made in adverts are accurate. But regardless of whether we agree with the individual rulings made by the ASA, by failing to investigate major polluters like Easyjet and McDonalds, is the regulator taking an overly narrow view on the ads it does decide to investigate and missing the bigger pollution picture?
An Adfree Cities report found that the ASA takes action against just 2% of complained-about adverts, and investigates just 14%. Given the regulator’s limited capacity for investigating ads (less than 23% of ads receiving complaints), it should focus on preventing greenwash and environmentally-irresponsible ads by fossil fuel companies and other major polluters, to disincentivise further harmful advertising by such companies.
However, since 2019 the ASA has failed to take action on ads by polluters including Qatar Airways, Easyjet, Haven Power (part of the Drax group) and Land Rover, as well as major oil and gas firms Chevron and Esso. The regulator did uphold complaints against budget airline Ryanair after its ads stating that “Europe’s Lowest Fares, Lowest Emissions Airline” was proved to be indefensible.
There has been controversy over Oatly’s investor profile and as a large multinational company it should not escape scrutiny. But the pattern of recent rulings begs the question – is the regulator truly cracking down on the most harmful versions of greenwash? Or are advertising codes around environmental claims mostly being used as a tool to scapegoat industries that challenge the status quo?
In any case, after this rigorous ruling against Oatly’s environmental claims, we hope we will see the same scrutiny applied to all ads, to ensure the ASA’s “crack down on greenwash” meets its responsibility for fair and impartial regulation.
Oatly’s “Need help talking to dad about milk?” TV adverts (the complaints and ban also covered social media posts and print ads):
‘Difficult age’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoqmTemcrMg
‘What have we here?’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHHBApQ6PA0
‘No thanks’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-2IQfVYFU4
