A vegan charity’s advert has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority because it caused “unjustified distress”.
The advert, created by the campaigning charity Viva!, shows a woman eating raw offal and blood in a parody of popular fruit yoghurt ads.
The advert also included voiceover lines that invited consumers to “be complicit” and “taste the torment in every mouthful”, with a line on the packaging of the “killer yoghurt” reading: “flavoured with a Mother’s grief”.
The ASA received seven complaints about the advert, which ran on Instagram, Facebook, the language app Duolingo and Poki Games, which are widely played by children.
Viva! defended the advert as a “theatrically staged parody”, saying that “viewers would understand that the blood in the yoghurt pot was not real”.
The charity said both Facebook and Instagram had reviewed the ad and found it to be acceptable.
It also said the ad had been targeted at specific demographics including meat eaters, vegans, dairy and vegetarian eaters and animal-lovers, but Meta and YouTube did not allow it to target people aged under 18.
Viva! said it was not aware the ad could appear on platforms without an 18-plus restriction through the Google display network.
The issues raised with the ASA were that the advert was “likely to cause unnecessary distress and serious and widespread offence” and that it was “irresponsibly targeted” because it would be seen by children.
The ASA upheld the first claim as it found the language in the voiceover to be “frightening and distressing to children in particular”.
The second claim was also upheld because the commission found the charity’s “targeting exclusions had been insufficient to target the ad away from children”.
Juliet Gellatley, founder and director of Viva!, said: “This ruling by the ASA is unjust and smacks of censorship.
“The ‘New From Killer Yoghurts’ advert is an obvious parody, designed to draw attention to the suffering that dairy cows experience every day.
“There are plenty of gory adverts for fantasy horror films that are shown on TV and online without any issues. Over three million people saw Viva!’s advert and were unoffended, but following just seven complaints, the ASA decided to shut it down.
“This is ludicrous and perhaps has more to do with our ad making people think about the reality of the dairy industry.
“Adverts for meat and dairy products that falsely show farmed animals living in idyll are allowed to be shown, despite them portraying staggeringly fake realities.
“Viva! has provided evidence that shows it was a third party who incorrectly showed our advert to children without our knowledge; however, this was totally disregarded by the ASA.
“The ASA is not a government organisation; the work it does is funded by the advertising industry.
“Given how it turns a blind eye to blatantly false claims made by the meat and dairy industries yet jumps on anything potentially seen as controversial by organisations such as Viva!, it’s clear where its loyalties lie.
“I have heard many say the ASA is at odds with its slogan: ‘Legal, decent, honest and truthful’.”