// Tesco accused of being ‘misleading’ by saying its Plant Chef burgers were better for the environment than their meat equivalents
// The Advertising Standards Authority has banned the adverts
Tesco has seen its ‘Plant Chef’ vegan burger adverts banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after being accused of making “misleading” claims.
The ASA said the ads were misleading because it was saying the Plant Chef burgers were better for the environment than their meat equivalents.
Tesco had implied that buying Plant Chef burgers would “positively affect the environment” as it suggested that customers could “do their bit” for the environment by swapping to plant-based burgers.
“We’ve lowered the price of dozens of our Plant Chef products because a little swap can make a difference to the planet,” the ads said.
The ASA said: “We expected to see evidence that that was the case based on the full life cycle of the Plant Chef burger in comparison with a meat burger.
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“However, we understood that Tesco did not hold any evidence in relation to the full lifecycle of any of the products in the Plant Chef range, or of the burger featured in the ads.”
It said it had concluded that the “claims regarding their positive benefits to the planet had not been substantiated and were likely to mislead”.
More than 171 complaints were made to the ASA about the adverts, which ran on TV, radio, Twitter and in newspapers last autumn.
Tesco said it was “disappointed” by the outcome.
“We’re committed to making it easy and affordable for customers to incorporate plant-based meat alternatives into their diets and recipes,” the supermarket said.
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