Tesco sausage advert deemed misleading by ASA
A TV advert by Tesco for its Butcher’s Choice sausages has been banned by the ASA for being misleading about how the pigs are reared.
The ad contained a scene that showed pigs roaming in a field. Three pigs were then shown in a hay barn and walking with a farmer down a lane. The voice-over stated “Why not try specially selected, British farmed, expertly produced, deliciously fresh butcher's choice bangers on your barbie? Quality and freshness at Tesco ...”
Complainants challenged whether the ad was misleading, because they believed the meat used for Tesco branded sausages came from pigs that were bred and reared indoors.
Tesco said that a combination of standard trim (indoor bred) and outdoor bred trim had been used in the product. It stated that the farm shown in the ad was a supplier for the product, and that the farm supplied meat from pigs which were born outdoors and finished indoors.
The ASA said: “We noted that in all scenes the pigs were shown to be in a spacious and free environment. In particular, we noted that the pigs were shown wandering unrestricted outside and, within the indoor barn scene, the barn door was shown to be open and the pigs’ movement unrestricted.
“In that context, we considered that consumers were likely to interpret the ad to mean that the pigs used to make the Butcher’s Choice sausages were reared in an unrestricted environment and had access to outdoor pasture. Since we understood that that was not the case, we concluded that the ad was misleading.”
The ASA declared that the ad had breached BCAP Code rule 3.1 (Misleading advertising).