Innocent smoothie ad banned for 'misleading' customers
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The brand is one of Europe's largest producers of smoothies and fruit juices
Innocent, the smoothies and juice brand owned by Coca Cola, have had an advert banned over claims it "misled" customers about how good its products are for the environment.
The advert showed an animated man and otter teetering on a cliff edge, until they drink an Innocent smoothie while helping "fix up the planet".
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said this implied buying Innocent drinks "was a choice which would have a positive environmental impact when that was not the case".
It is an organisation that reviews adverts on TV, radio, in print and online, and decides whether they are in line with their codes of conduct
These codes lay out what things adverts can and can't do, and if they're broken, they will say that the adverts needs to be taken down
For example, adverts can't lie about their products, or be offensive
People can make complaints to the ASA about adverts if they see something in them that they think breaks these rules
There were 26 complaints made to the ASA about the advert. One was made by a campaigning group called Plastics Rebellion. They were angry at the advert because Innocent drinks are sold in plastic bottles.
The campaigners said in a statement that Innocent were "trivialising the horrific scale of the problem by repeating the mantra: 'Reduce, re-use, recycle'".
The bottles Innocent sells its drinks in are made out of 50% recycled materials, and 50% new plastics (not including labels and caps).
The ASA said that the production of these bottles would have a negative impact on the environment.
The otter featured in the now banned advert
Innocent disagreed with the ruling, however. It said it wasn't suggesting in the ad that buying their products would lead to a positive impact on the environment.
Instead, it argued that the company was calling on their customers to do their bit for the planet and help make change.
It also mentioned that it has made a commitment to being carbon neutral by 2030, and has opened a carbon-neutral factory that runs on renewable energy and a cleaning system that reduces water usage by 75%.
If something is carbon neutral, it means that the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) it releases into the atmosphere is the same amount as it takes out
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major cause of climate change
Innocent said: "Our advert was always intended to highlight important global environmental issues and the need for collective action to make a change. We transparently share more about the work that we do on sustainability on our website.
"As with any new guidelines, we'd like to work with the ASA and other brands to understand how to align to them to continue the conversation on these important topics."
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