Mead Johnson cow’s milk allergy ad claims 'had been substantiated’: ASA
The complainant queried whether the cow's milk allergy (CMA) symptoms listed by Mead Johnson in the advert were in line with National Health Service (NHS) guidelines.
They also asked if Mead Johnson's claim that CMA "affects tens of of thousands of babies in the UK" could be substantiated.
"The ASA understood the complaint was concerned the ad did not include information about the basis of Mead Johnson's claims," the ASA concluded.
"We noted, however, that information was not required to be in the ad by that the Code did require Mead Johnson to hold evidence in support of them."
In response, Mead Johnson supplied evidence in support of both claims, including UK birth statistics, and articles and studies on CMA.
Following an assessment, the ASA concluded the Mead Johnson CMA advert "was not misleading" and "did not breach" the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) Code.
Substantiated and not misleading
The advert begins with a mother hearing her child crying.
A voiceover starts: “Is it colic? Is it vomiting? Is it eczema? Is it diarrhoea?”
“If your baby has been suffering two or more of these symptoms, for several weeks and particularly after feeding, it could be an indicator of something else like cow’s milk allergy,” it continues.
“Cow’s milk allergy affects tens of thousands of babies in the UK, but can be managed with a change of diet.”
It ends with a link to a Mead Johnson website dedicated to advice on CMA.
Addressing the first complaint, Mead Johnson referred the ASA to National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance.
"We noted the complainant's view," said the ASA, "but considered the symptoms referred to in the ad were in line with current NICE and NHS guidance for CMA symptoms."
"For those reasons, we considered the ad's claim that colic, vomiting, diarrhoea and eczema could be reasons why the baby was crying and that they were indicative of CMA had been substantiated."
To back up the claim 'Cow's milk allergy affects tens of thousands of babies in the UK', Mead Johnson provided ASA with Statistical Bulletins on births in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2012, articles published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and studies on CMA.
This evidence, Mead Johnson said, supported the view that the CMA incidence rate among infants was between 2% and 7.5%.
On this basis, between 16,259 and 60,973 of the 812,970 infants born in the UK in 2012 would be affected by CMA, it argued.
Concluding, the ASA said Mead Johnson "had provided evidence to support both their calculation and their claim."
"Therefore, we concluded the claim 'Cow's milk allergy affects tens of thousands of babies in the UK' had been substantiated and was not misleading," it said.
