You can't believe butter ad, ASA says

UK-- The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned the current Flora TV advert saying its claim that “More people prefer the taste of Flora Buttery” was “not supported with sufficiently robust evidence” and was “likely to mislead” viewers.

Thirty viewers complained about the ad, which features celebrity chef Gary Rhodes, after it claimed that a survey of 200 people found 48% preferred Flora Buttery, 45% preferred Lurpak and 7% had no preference.

Flora, which is owned by Unilever, and ad agency Krow Communications used a third-party research agency to carry out the survey but ASA said that the sample size was “insufficient to support a preference claim”.

It also said that the combined percentages of people who preferred Lurpak or had no preference was greater than the amount of people that voted for Flora. ASA said: “We considered, therefore, that the results had not demonstrated that more people prefer the taste of Flora Buttery.”

Unilever argued that the sample size was sufficient and said it had “taken steps to ensure that the demographic of the individuals surveyed represented a fair cross section of society”.

The firm said the results of the survey were significant because almost half the people surveyed – 96 in total – said they preferred Flora but acknowledged that a differential of 3% “would not support the claim without qualification”.

Author: James Verrinder