Watchdog bans Huel’s ‘misleading’ advert – second times in two months

A watchdog has banned yet another advert for food supplement firm Huel for making unsubstantiated claims about the product’s health benefits and cost relative to fruits and vegetables.

A post on Huel’s Instagram account, seen on April 3, featured company founder Julian Hearn claiming: “You’ve been told your whole life to eat greens and a lot of people can’t get that amount of greens into their diet … we’ve taken a very broad range of greens, so you get a product which is equally good, or in my eyes better, but you get it substantially cheaper.”

The caption of the post read: “Superfoods to supercharge your health. Huel Daily Greens is packed with … gut-friendly probiotics.

“All the nutrients your body needs to thrive; Reduce tiredness and fatigue with 26 essential vitamins & minerals like iron; Excellent source of biotin and collagen to support smooth, healthy skin.”

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated the ad after receiving a complaint that took issue with the comparison between Huel’s product and “greens”, as well as the claim that Huel was “substantially cheaper” than an equivalent portion of greens.

Huel told the ASA that the ad had been shortened due to an “editing error”, leaving the impression that the comparison was with fresh green vegetables.

It told that watchdog that it recognised the error fell short of its standards and confirmed it was taking steps to ensure it was not repeated.

Only nutrition claims authorised on the Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims register are permitted to be used in advertising.

The ASA said customers would generally understand “eat your greens” to mean eating vegetables and that Huel was comparing the cost and nutritional value of its product to green vegetables.

It said: “Because we had not seen evidence that the Daily Greens product was cheaper than a portion of greens,we concluded that the claim the product was ‘substantially cheaper’ than an equivalent portion of greens was misleading and could not be substantiated.”

The ASA said all health claims for food and food supplements had to be authorised by a regulator and “must be presented clearly and without exaggeration”.

It added: “We considered those claims did not have the same meaning as any authorised health claims.”

It ruled that the advert must not appear again.

The ASA issued a separate ban for a Huel ad just last month after it failed to disclose the commercial relationship with celebrity entrepreneur Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett.

The ASA found Huel “omitted material information” about its links to Bartlett.

The ASA also banned another Huel advert in February 2023 which suggested its replacement shakes could save people money on their food bills.

The ad claimed a month’s supply of the meal supplement could cost less than £50 without making clear that this was based on having one meal replacement per day.