Kellogg fights back over 'misleading' advert claims

Cereal giant Kellogg has defended itself yet again against claims that some of its cereal adverts are misleading.

The new Rice Krispies television advert is the latest to come under fire after consumer watchdog Which? complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that it was misleading for parents.

The advert claims there is 'nothing simpler than the single grain of rice used to make each Rice Krispie' but fails to point out that the cereal is actually 10% sugar and high in salt, claimed Which?

Which? added that the salt level in Rice Krispies was so high that it would receive a red light for salt under the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) proposed traffic light labelling scheme.

According to the watchdog, 100g of Rice Krispies contains: 10g of sugar, 1g of fat, 0.2g of saturated fat and 1.65g of salt. It said the FSA's proposed criteria for its traffic light labelling scheme was that 1.5g or more per 100g of salt is classed as high (red) and that between 5 and 15g of sugar per 100g is medium (amber).

Sue Davies, chief policy adviser for Which? said: “We believe this is misleading advertising by Kellogg's. They focus on the rice used to make Rice Krispies but cleverly forget to mention the added extras of sugar and salt. In fact, the second ingredient on the packaging is sugar, followed by salt.”

However, Kellogg defended itself, saying the facts were “quite simple”. It maintained that a single grain of rice was used to make each Rice Krispie and said that for every 100kg of Kellogg's Rice Krispies, 99kg of rice was used.

“The product contains four additional ingredients plus six B-group vitamins and iron,” it professed. “A 30g serving of Rice Krispies provides just 8% of the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) for salt and 3% of the GDA for sugars; information which is highlighted clearly on front of pack.”

Based on the recommended 30g portion size, a bowl of Rice Krispies with milk contained 0.65g of salt, said Which? - around a third of the daily maximum intake level advised for children aged between one and three (2g a day). But Kellogg stressed the product was not targeted at this age group, nor was it consumed in 100g quantities.

“The views of Which? on breakfast cereals are often deliberately misleading,” it said. “In fact we and independent experts have recently written to them outlining the inaccuracies in their latest report on breakfast cereals.”

Last month the UK Advertising Standards Agency told Kellogg to change or ditch an advert for Cornflakes because it disputed the research behind it and said the claims it made were misleading.