Advertising watchdog bans vegan group’s ad

ATV ad for the organisation Vegan Friendly UK has been banned after it drew complaints about its graphic images of animals in distress alongside people eating.

The ad, seen in March, showed two women and one man eating around a table as well as clips of a fish head which was still gasping for air, a live piglet alongside a pig with its eyes closed and a cow’s face which appeared to have tears coming from its eye. A further clip showed a cow’s skinned head with its eyes and teeth still present.

As those at the table continued to eat, text stated: “No animal was harmed, consumed, or purchased to make this advert,” followed by the text: “Make the connection.”

The ad was given a restriction preventing it from being transmitted in or adjacent to programmes commissioned for, principally directed at or likely to appeal to children under 16.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 63 complaints, with some saying the ad contained gratuitous violence towards animals, which caused unnecessary distress to viewers.

Vegan Friendly UK said the clips in the ad did not portray violence or harm and that such imagery was seen regularly in butchers’ or fishmongers’ windows. They said the aim of the ad was to encourage those meat eaters who were against animal cruelty to reconsider their actions, adding that they believed their ad did not vilify meat eaters but “promoted love and compassion for all beings and discouraged discrimination against other sentient beings”.

The ASA noted that both Clearcast and Vegan Friendly UK understood the imagery in the ad was akin to what viewers could expect to see in cookery programmes or on the high street when walking past a butcher’s shop or fishmonger’s shop, but said it considered that “several of the clips shown, such as the clips which depicted animals in distress or the skinned cow’s head, would likely not be seen in these places”.

It concluded: “For those reasons, we concluded that the ad was likely to cause distress to both younger and adult audiences and therefore was not suitable for broadcast on TV regardless of scheduling restrictions.” The ASA ruled the ad must not appear again.

Meanwhile ads for Tesco’s Plant Chef burgers have been banned over “misleading” claims that the products could make a positive difference to the environment compared with their meat equivalents. The TV, video on demand, radio, press, Twitter and website ads in October and November featured a woman about to eat a burger while hearing the words on television: “The planet is continuing to warm,” after which a voice-over said: “She’s gonna roll up her sleeves and do her bit ... and there it is, a delicious Tesco Plant Chef burger.

“We’ve lowered the price of dozens of our Plant Chef products because a little swap can make a difference to the planet.”

The ASA said: “Because we considered the ads implied that switching to products in the Plant Chef range would positively affect the environment, we expected to see evidence that that was the case based on the full life cycle of the Plant Chef burger in comparison with a meat burger.

“We concluded the claims regarding their positive benefits to the planet had not been substantiated and were likely to mislead.”