The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered the removal of an advertisement by the National Dairy Council (NDC), due to complainants who considered it “misleading” and said “greenwashing” was at play.
The television advertisement featured on Bord Bia’s X account, and showed a female rugby player speaking about Irish grass and dairy.
The voiceover stated: “I spend a lot of time on grass. I know the feel of it and yes, I know the taste of it.
“We’re world-famous for our grass, which is why we’re world famous for our dairy produce too – because our beautiful and rich green grass lies at the heart of our naturally nutritious, sustainably produced milk. Sure, why else do you think we play in green.”
NDC advert
Text on the screen for the NDC ad stated: “Milk is a naturally rich source of protein and calcium which support the normal maintenance of bones.
“Irish cows are predominantly grass-fed and 99% of the water used to produce milk is supplied by natural rainfall.”
The end frame of the advertisement included the following line: “Nourished from the ground up”.
Complainants considered the advert “misleading” to claim that milk is sustainably produced, due to the “damage the dairy industry caused to the environment”.
The complainants said that Irish agriculture was the “single biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions” in Ireland, and caused the “greatest amount of biodiversity loss” in Ireland, due to the national herd and because of the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers.
They referred to the EU Joint Research Centre ’s Report from 2010, which they said stated that Ireland had the fourth highest CO2 emissions in the EU for milk production.
Another complainant said that while dairy production in Ireland may be more sustainable than other countries, it was “misleading” to say that it was sustainable in Ireland, given that the Climate Action Plan (CAP) included a requirement that farming emissions must be reduced by 25%.
Complaints upheld
In response, the advertisers said that sustainability comprised three distinct elements, including “economic, social, and environmental”, and stated that the definition of “sustainable” was described as something that was able to be sustained in those three ways.
It stated that all of those criterias needed to be taken into account when classifying anything as “sustainable”.
They said that Irish dairy products were exported to 130 countries and delivered €6.8 billion to the Irish economy each year, and that Irish dairy sustained the livelihoods of 17,500 family-run dairy farms and supported 54,000 Irish jobs.
In regard to the complaints that milk wasn’t sustainably produced, they said that agriculture was tasked with achieving a 25% reduction in emissions by 2030 and as part of this, the dairy industry was implementing new technologies and farming practices to address the target, and that “progress” was being made.
They said that this could be seen particularly as Irish agricultural emissions reduced in 2022, according to the environmental protection agency (EPA).
The advertisers said that there were specific farming initiatives in place on water quality, such as precision fertiliser spreading, riparian margins, using trees (willows) and plants (reeds) to filter farmyard run-off.
The complaints committee considered the claim in breach of multiple codes of standards for advertising, due to the direct claim in the advert that milk was “sustainably produced”.
The advertising must now not reappear in its current form.
The committee reminded advertisers not to make absolute claims without qualification unless evidence is provided for the claim.