The UK's advertising watchdog has banned an Instagram advert for M&M's after ruling it breached new restrictions on the online promotion of less healthy food, in the latest sign of tougher enforcement of HFSS advertising rules affecting food and drink brands.
In a ruling published on Wednesday (8 July), the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint by campaign group Bite Back against an Instagram advert by Mars Wrigley Confectionery UK, concluding that it promoted an identifiable high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) product in breach of advertising rules that came into force in January.
The regulator found that while the advert was presented as brand advertising, its use of the oval yellow M&M's character effectively depicted Peanut M&M's, a specific HFSS product, meaning it fell outside the brand advertising exemption.
The advert featured two animated M&M's characters alongside the text "For a truly unique event" and a link to the brand's website.
Mars argued the characters were long-established brand mascots rather than representations of specific products, and that the advert promoted the M&M's brand rather than any individual confectionery item.
However, the ASA concluded that the oval yellow character's distinctive shape and colour would reasonably be recognised as representing Peanut M&M's.
"While the ad did promote the brand of a range of products, it also depicted... a specific 'less healthy' food product – Peanut M&M's," the regulator said. "The exemption from the rules for brand advertising therefore did not apply."
The watchdog ordered Mars not to repeat the advert in its current form and told the company to ensure future online paid-for advertising does not identify specific less healthy food products through branding techniques such as brand characters.
The ruling comes as the ASA steps up enforcement of the new HFSS advertising regime introduced on 5 January under legislation restricting paid-for online advertising of identifiable less healthy food and drink products.
The regulator also upheld a similar complaint against restaurant operator S&E1 Ltd, trading as Morley's Woking, over an online advert.
However, it rejected complaints against adverts by Uber Eats featuring Burger King, KFC, Domino's and Papa Johns after concluding the food shown was not visually indistinguishable from any specific HFSS product. The ASA ruled those adverts were brand advertising and therefore exempt from the restrictions.
The latest decisions follow a series of high-profile rulings since the rules took effect. Last month, the ASA banned an Easter-themed Instagram advert by Amazon Fresh for breaching the HFSS rules. In April, Lidl and Iceland Foods became the first retailers to have adverts prohibited under the new regime.