The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has censured Kellogg Marketing and Sales Co. (UK), Ltd. for falsely claiming on its Website, in relation to promotions for children’s breakfast cereals, that “A panel of world health experts recently reviewed all the scientific evidence and concluded that a high sugar intake is not related to obesity, or the development of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer.”
ASA acknowledged that Kellogg’s had based the claim on “credible scientific evidence and review,” but noted that the company’s wording, without qualifiers, did not account for contrary evidence and “implied there was absolute certainty about the claims being made,” which is not the case. Because Kellogg’s had “referred in particular to a high sugar intake,” ASA concluded that the claim was misleading given the number of authoritative government cautions about limiting the quantity of sugary foods consumed. The company apparently assured the authority that it would remove the claims from its Website.
