As you may or may not have seen, one of our recent ads has been flagged by the ASA. We wanted to address this directly and explain what happened so there’s no confusion or misinterpretation.
What happened?
The ASA ruled that one of our ads, featuring Spencer Matthews and our founder, created a misleading impression in three areas: that Huel could replace all meals, that Huel could improve athletic performance, and that the phrase ‘gives you everything you need’ was an unsubstantiated health claim.
We respect the ASA’s decision and have removed the ad. Our official statement is below:
“Huel respects the ASA process and decision and has complied with the ruling. The ad was intended to challenge the misconception that Huel should replace every meal, and we believe that is how most people understood it. We do not position Huel as a complete diet replacement or claim that it improves athletic performance. Huel is for those inconvenient meals when a whole food option isn’t on the table, as part of a varied and balanced diet.”
We believe this is supported by the following quotes from Julian in the ad:
“What I do is I have Huel for breakfast and lunch during the working week, go home and have a traditional meal. Weekends as well. But during the working week, Huel saves time, effort, and gives you everything that you do need in the most convenient format possible.”
“In an ideal world you should have nutritionally complete, whole food. If you could do that for every meal, that would be the best solution to life. Most people either don’t do that, or can’t have the time to do that, and therefore that’s where Huel fits in the gap.”
However, the statement ‘gives you everything that you need’, which was used to describe Huel, needed to be accompanied by a specific authorised health claim. We’ve acknowledged this and will take it into account in future advertising.
What happens now?
As stated above, we respect the ASA’s decision. We’ve complied with the ruling and removed the ad in the UK.
We hope this gives some clarity on our position and what happened. If you’ve got any questions, drop them below and I’ll answer them as best I can.
Thank you.