The advertising for Danisa butter cookies in the US has been changed after complaints from Campbell Soup Co., owner of the Danish snacks business Kelsen.
Takari International, a US-based distributor of food from Asia, has been asked to stop using a range of claims and Scandinavian imagery on Danisa biscuits sold in the US.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Campbell issued a complaint over a series of claims, including the Danisa biscuits, made by Indonesia's Mayora Group, were "traditional butter cookies".
The National Advertising Division, a unit of industry self-regulatory body the Council of Better Business Bureaus, said US regulations requires any product labelled as butter cookies use only butter as a shortening ingredient.
According to the NAD, Campbell said testing by the Danish government, the US food giant's own laboratory and a third-party lab showed "a non-butter fat ingredient or, possibly, multiple non-butter fat ingredients, are present in the Danisa products".
Campbell also challenged claims including Danisa cookies were made to an "original Danish recipe", were "baked following the original recipe from Denmark" and were "produced and packed in Denmark".
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataThe NAD said Takari had insisted it "does not have access to information about the ingredients used to produce the product or control over manufacturing and/or packaging claims and, as such, is not responsible for the challenged advertising".
The distributor argued it is "an innocent party", the NAD said. It added Takari had claimed it had purchased the product "without any knowledge regarding possible problems with content or package design and cannot be bound by the NAD’s inquiry and findings". The NAD continued: "Further, Takari asserted that any website or advertising challenged in the complaint constitute commercial speech protected under the First Amendment."
Nevertheless, the NAD said it has previously argued "catalogue retailers must have a reasonable basis for the advertising claims made for products sold through their catalogues". It added: "The same holds true for distributors."
Takari said it would remove Danisa’s advertisement from its website, would not promote the product at any trade shows nor through in-store displays it controls. The distributor said it would not in the future purchase the product with the current packaging and description, the NAD said.
Officials at Campbell and Takari had not responded to requests for further comment at the time of writing.
