Uh-oh, Huel and Zoe have adverts banned because of involvement from Steven Bartlett

Nutrition brands Huel and Zoe have both had adverts banned because of involvement from Steven Bartlett. Online posts from the brands have been banned after they failed to disclose his involvement in the companies.

Previously, people had been calling Steven out for promoting the products without making clear that he’s actually on the board of directors and a huge investor for Huel, and he’s also an investor for Zoe. One person called the “annoying” ad “biased” and another said he is being “portrayed as a customer giving an endorsement.”

Now, it seems the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agrees, as it has been ruled it should have been made clear that Steven Bartlett had a vested interest in the two brands.

FYI *that* Steven Bartlett “just try it” Huel advert you’re seeing everywhere fails to mention that Steven Bartlett is on Huel’s board of directors.

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) February 11, 2024

The Zoe advert looked as though Steven Bartlett was simply featuring as a celebrity endorsement, and featured a photo of him alongside the words: “If you haven’t tried Zoe yet, give it a shot. It might just change your life.” One of the Huel ads had him describing the brand’s Daily Greens powder as its “best product”.

According to the ASA ruling, the main issue with the ads is “whether the omission of his commercial interest in the company from the ads was misleading.” ASA confirmed: “The ads omitted material information about Steven Bartlett’s position as a director at Huel, we concluded they were likely to mislead.”

Zoe argued “since the post was obviously identifiable as an ad, then it was unclear exactly how the average consumer was misled by the omission of any additional information identifying the precise nature of Steven Bartlett’s commercial relationship with the company.”

However, the complaints against Huel and Zoe were both upheld, and it has been concluded the ads must not appear as they previously did again.

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