The ad watchdog has rejected calls to ban a responsive TV ad promoting SMA Nutrition’s website after a raft of complainants claimed it indirectly pushed SMA’s infant formula milk, a product that it is prohibited from advertising.
The ad featured a pregnant woman sitting and talking on the phone while looking at SMA’s website on a laptop. As she stood up the scene moved on and showed the woman holding a newborn baby next to her partner, who was looking at a page on SMA’s website entitled “How to breastfeed”, which was briefly visible to viewers.
A voiceover said: “There’s nothing more important than what you do for your baby at the start, because that’s what affects their future.” The camera panned briefly past SMA information sheets on a fridge and into the kitchen, where the baby, aged around 9 months, was being spoon-fed by her father.
The camera panned past an SMA recipe card and showed the baby, now aged around 12 months, crawling on the floor. The voice-over continued, “That’s why at SMA we offer as much help as possible. Like lots of expert advice to support healthy growth and development.”
Some 43 viewers claimed it promoted the formula milk, sparking the Advertising Standards Authority probe.
In response, Pfizer Nutrition (SMA) believed the ad clearly promoted the SMA website and focused on SMA services relevant to pregnancy and early childhood. It considered that the presence of a pregnant woman and a baby were compatible with the focus of the ad and compatible with the information available on the SMA website.
Clearcast said that the voice-over stressed what SMA offered; “… as much help as possible” at the start of the baby’s life with “lots of expert advice to support healthy growth and development” including “videos, help sheets, recipes and so at much more”.
The ASA understood that viewers would be aware that SMA made formula milk. However, it noted that the ad did not feature any individual SMA products but rather that it promoted the SMA nutrition website. It ruled that no further action should be taken.
