Tesco’s sausage advert is banned

Tesco’s have tried hard to respond to consumer preference for ethically farmed meat. Their TV ad for their own-brand Butcher’s Choice sausages shows one of the farmers who raised the pigs, and some of his pigs roaming in a field. But the ASA have objected, because although some of the pigs used in the sausages could wander freely outdoors, not all of them could - and the ruling is that the image shown is therefore misleading. Nina Best, an advertising lawyer, said that even though Tesco had only shown the pigs roaming outside for a few seconds, it was enough for the ASA to act: “Companies must not forget to ensure that their visual claims are capable of substantiation as well as their written ones.” So, the ad has to be withdrawn.

Here is the advert. What do you think?