Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14464

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Ban for Horlicks and noodle ads
BBC News 2008 Oct 21
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7683259.stm

Full text:

An advert claiming that Horlicks makes children “taller, stronger and sharper” has been banned after it mistakenly was screened on British television.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has also banned an advert for a brand of Nestle noodles which claimed to strengthen muscles and bones.

Both were meant to air in Bangladesh, but appeared in Britain on NTV as part of a rebroadcast deal.

The ASA said they were misleading and broke the UK’s strict industry code.

The manufacturers of both products said the adverts were never meant to be shown in the UK.

Fortified

The Horlicks advert said the malt drink had been tested on pupils at a boarding school, and included a voiceover saying, “Children have become taller, stronger and sharper. The Horlicks challenge – now proven. See for yourself.”

GlaxoSmithKline, maker of Horlicks, said the version of the product sold in Bangladesh was fortified and its health claims were supported by clinical studies done by the National Institute of Nutrition in India.

Horlicks sold in the UK, however, is not fortified and GSK said there was no intention of advertising it as such here.

Nestle made a similar point about its Maggi Noodles which in Bangladesh are also fortified.
Nestle said its advert for Maggi Noodles was not meant to air in the UK

In the advert, a mother explained to her child: “Maggi is the best because it has essential protein and calcium that help to build strong muscles and bones.”

The ASA said it was concerned that the Bangladeshi TV station broadcast the adverts in the UK without the manufacturers’ knowledge or consent.

An ASA spokesman said they were spotted by its staff as part of “pro-active monitoring work to protect consumers from misleading or harmful advertising”.

“The health and nutritional claims made by GSK and Nestle may be allowed in other parts of the world, but they breach the strict rules in the UK and we have seen no evidence to substantiate them,” he said.