Tesco’s horsemeat advert banned
Tesco’s advert in response to the horsemeat scandal was banned by the ASA, after it misleadingly implied all food retailers and manufacturers had sold horsemeat-contaminated food as other meat products.
The two-page national press advert run earlier this year stated: "The problem we've had with some of our meat lately is about more than burgers and bolognese. It's about some of the ways we get meat to your dinner table. It's about the whole food industry.
“And it has made us realise, we really do need to make it better. We've been working on it, but we need to keep going, go further, move quicker. We know that our supply chain is too complicated. So we're making it simpler ... Seriously. This is it. We are changing.”
The ASA ruled the ad was misleading because it “implied that all retailers and suppliers were likely to have sold products contaminated with horsemeat, whereas in reality only a relatively few instances of contamination had been identified at the time.”
“We understood that while some products had been sold, contaminated with meat not shown on the label, this was not widespread as only a small number of products had tested positive for horsemeat and others had tested negative,” it added.
Tesco said it was “disappointed with this decision, but accept that the ASA has taken a very literal view of the wording in the advert”.
Senior lawyer, Professor Owen Warnock, said Tesco had taken a toddler’s approach to the horsemeat crisis.