Complaints surrounding a recent Baker’s Delight’s school lunch campaign that included iced finger buns topped with M&Ms have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Board (ASB).
The ads featured in OOH around shopping centres and in-store and promoted a school lunch range that included a cheese and Vegemite scroll, a cheese and bacon roll and a four-pack of mini finger buns covered in lollies with the wording: “School lunches? Problem solved.”
The ad reportedly received two complaints with one complainant stating: “Advertising of lollies on bread for school lunches is appalling. Lunch and healthy food choices is challenging enough for most families and to have this as an acceptable choice is unfathomable.
“Bakers Delight is specifically targeting children to include M&M finger buns as a day-to-day lunch box item. Such products, should rarely (or preferably never) be eaten by children, let alone promoted and ‘normalised’ as an everyday food.”
The ASB found that the campaign did breach a section of the AANA’s own Food Code, however, it did not breach the advertising Children’s Code as the ad was aimed at parents and not kids.
It has been reported the back-to-school campaign has now finished and will not run again.
In it’s judgement the ASB found: “The Board noted that the advertisement depicts finger buns and savoury buns and that whilst designed to be options for a lunch box treat or occasional lunch alternative, this is not clear in the advertisement,” the ASB said.
“The majority of the Board noted that the reader may interpret the advertisement as being a suggestion of some items to go in the lunch box, however, in the view of the majority, the text ‘your lunchbox solution’ strongly suggests this is all you could have.”
