Arla hit with ad ban as ASA goes sour over 'Good For the Land' tagline
A press ad for Arla organic farm milk has been hit with a ban after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) branded it misleading.
Arla hit with ad ban as ASA goes sour over 'Good For the Land' tagline
The ad included text which claimed the milk was "good for the land," while smaller text below said the product was "helping support a more sustainable future".
One member of the public complained on the basis they believed dairy farming was not particularly "good for the land," calling the claims made in the tagline unsubstantiated.
The ASA agreed, hitting the dairy brand with a ban despite protests from Arla Foods that the ad referred to an organic product and organic farming methods.
Arla stated that one of the key principles of organic farming was good treatment of the land and that sustainability was at the heart of organic farming, including the use of renewable and the protection of non-renewable energy sources.
Although the brand stated that all its farms were certified as being organic by relevant organisations, the watchdog didn't budge. It argued that consumers would interpret the text to mean that the production of the milk advertised was undertaken in such a way that it would have an wider positive effect on the environment.
"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," said the ASA. "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."
The campaign, which comes amid an ongoing debate around the conditions imposed on animals during the conventional dairy farming process, must not be shown in its current form again.