British regulator toasts coffee chain’s avocado-bashing advt

London, UK - Britain’s biggest coffee house chain was banned from repeating an advert that implied their breakfast deals were a better bet than eating an avocado.

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) regulator found that the Costa Coffee radio commercial discouraged the selection of fresh fruit.

The commercial said avocados would be ‘hard as rock for the first 18 days, three hours and 20 minutes, then they’ll be ready to eat, for about 10 minutes, then they’ll go off’, before encouraging consumers to head to Costa Coffee for a meat roll or egg muffin instead for breakfast.

Costa said their advert played on frustration with the unpredictability of ripening avocados, which have become an increasingly popular breakfast choice.

Radiocentre, which clears adverts for broadcast, said consumers would regard the comparison as a ‘light-hearted remark about the common experience of buying inedible avocados when compared to buying an instant hot coffee and meat roll or egg muffin’.

Two listeners complained, claiming it discouraged consumers from eating fresh fruit. The ASA upheld their complaints. The regulator said the ad breached the British Code of Advertising Practice, which states that comparisons between foods must not discourage the selection of options such as fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The advert, which was broadcast in June, cannot be aired again in its current form, the ASA said.