A radio advert for Cadbury was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it was challenged based on its nutrition claims.
The advert, which was for the brand’s Delights range, was heard on 18 January 2025.
It said: “Some people might describe Cadbury Delights as just another Cadbury bar. A bit samey. Very familiar. Honestly, we’d be chuffed if they did. Because Delights have that same chocolatey Cadbury taste you’ve had a million times before.
“Same soft nougat, same gooey caramel. But they’re only 91 calories. So, samey is exactly what we’re going for. Cadbury Delights. Same Cadbury, only 91 calories.”
A registered nutritionist challenged whether the claim ‘only 91 calories’ went against the watchdog’s guidelines. It was additionally investigated by the ASA who challenged whether the claim “energy reduced” made an implied comparative nutrition claim which breached the CAP Code.
Cadbury responded to the complaints, highlighting that the work had been submitted to Radiocentre, the industry body for radio in the UK, and was approved. It added that the marketing drive was no longer being broadcast.
The brand stated that it intended to provide “factual information” about the calorific content per the bar and had carried out research to understand consumers’ reception of the ad. The research showcased that “factual calorie information” was a major factor for their consumers.
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It said it didn’t intend to give a misleading impression about the health benefits of the product and would amend the statement in future ads.
In answer to the ASA’s concern, the chocolatier highlighted that its consumer research indicated customers understood the ad to be showcasing the product’s taste.
Radiocentre also responded to the regulator, stating it had cleared the claim that it “contains 91 calories” and did not see that the claim had changed to “only 91 calories”.
The ASA upheld the ban on the basis that only nutrition claims authorised by the Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims Register (the GB NHC Register) could appear in ads promoting food or drink products.
It said: “We [therefore] considered that listeners would understand the claim only 91 calories as a low calorie claim, which was equivalent to the ‘low energy’ nutrition claim authorised on the GB NHC Register.”
“The conditions of use for that claim allowed it to be made only where a product did not contain more than 40 kcal per 100 g for solids. We understood, however, that Cadbury Delights products contained either 413 or 415 kcal per 100 g, depending on the flavour of the product,” the ASA report concluded.
It ruled the ad breached BCAP Code rules 13.4, 13.4.1 and 13.4.2 (Food, food supplements and associated health and nutrition claims).
According to the ASA, the ad must not appear again in the complained-of form.
