Misleading Hovis ad not quite the best thing since sliced bread

The Advertising Standard Agency has ruled that Premier Foods should stop using a misleading advert which stated that its Hovis brand had been voted Britain’s softest white bread. The claim was based on an independent survey of 200 people in November and December 2008. However, rival bakers complained that the advert was misleading. The ASA agreed. Even though Premier Foods had continued to carry out its own surveys following the independent 2008 survey, they did not hold the same weight as the independent one. Since the 2008 surveys had been conducted, the recipe in at least one of the breads had changed, and all the breads were using 2009 rather than 2008 flour, which may have affected the results if a further independent survey was carried out. The ASA said it could not be certain how people would have voted if there had been a subsequent survey.

In addition, the ASA objected to the fact that the survey had asked people to give the products a mark out of 10 and although Hovis’s average was higher it was not necessarily chosen preferred by more people.

Consequently, the ad breached the CAP Code. The CAP Code is a code of practice governing the content of adverts and marketing communications, and it is administered by the ASA. Although the Code does not have legal force, it is best practice to comply with it, as failure to do so can result in bad publicity and ultimately an inability to obtain advertising space.