Tesco has been told to stop showing a TV ad for sausages after a UK advertising watchdog found it to be misleading.
The advert for the supermarket’s own-brand Butcher’s Choice Sausages showed pigs roaming a field and walking around a barn.
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However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stepped in after four viewers complained because they believed the meat used for Tesco-branded sausages came from pigs that were bred and reared indoors.
The ASA ruling said pigs used for the sausages were bred both indoors and outdoors, with their movement restricted. It said: “We noted that in all scenes the pigs were shown to be in a spacious and free environment. In that context, we considered that consumers were likely to interpret the ad to mean that the pigs used to make the Butcher’s Choice sausages were reared in an unrestricted environment and had access to outdoor pasture. Since we understood that that was not the case, we concluded that the ad was misleading.”
Tesco said it was confused about the ASA decision because the advert used footage of animals from one of its suppliers.
The retailer said: “We’re a bit baffled by this ruling. The farmer featured is a Tesco supplier and produces some of the pork featured in our ad. We genuinely don’t see how the ASA can say an ad showing a genuine Tesco farmer can be misleading.”
