Huel rapped for ‘irresponsible’ Spencer Matthews ad
Huel, the meal replacement drink backed by Steven Bartlett, has been rapped by the advertising watchdog for an “irresponsible” ad featuring Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews.
The drinks firm, which is owned by French food giant Danone, paid for a video featuring Matthews to be circulated on Instagram and Youtube.
Both adverts have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which decided that the video condones the view that Huel should be consumed in place of a normal meal.
The video features a clip from a podcast-style interview, in which Huel founder Julian Hearn tells Matthews that he eats Huel for breakfast and lunch during the working week, before having a “traditional meal” when he returns home.
Matthews responds by saying that, when competing in an ultramarathon, he met a man who “only eats Huel”.
The celebrity said he was initially sceptical, before adding: “He won it [the race] by miles, like literally just left us all in the dirt.”
Hearn then said: “In an ideal world, you should have nutritionally complete whole food.
“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.”
Huel ‘lacked responsibility’
The ASA said on Wednesday it recieved four complaints about the advert which said it implied that Huel products could be a complete replacement for all conventional food.
Huel hit back at the regulator, arguing that Hearn “was against the idea that Huel should be used as a complete replacement for conventional food”.
When telling the ultramarathon anecdote, Matthews expressed “extreme scepticism and disbelief,” the drinks brand argued.
But the ASA ruled that the video “presented the individual’s exclusive consumption of Huel in a particularly positive context”.
The regulator added: “While Mr Matthews’ initial reaction conveyed surprise and scepticism about the diet, the conclusion of the story directly contradicted those concerns by attributing exceptional sporting performance to an individual who was said to consume no conventional food.”
The ASA decided: “Because the ads encouraged or condoned the complete replacement of conventional food with Huel, an irresponsible dietary practice, we concluded they had not been prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers.”
A spokesperson for Huel said that it had complied with the ASA’s ruling. “We do not position Huel as a complete diet replacement or claim that it improves athletic performance,” they said.