The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) has ruled that a television advert by the National Dairy Council (NDC) should not reappear in its current form, after three complaints were received by the authority.

The television advert featured a female rugby player speaking about Irish grass and dairy.

The advertisement had included the statement “sustainably produced milk”, which all three complainants objected to.

The voiceover on the advert 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.”

The complainants said the use of ‘sustainably’ was misleading and they believed that Irish dairy farming caused environmental damage.

The ASAI complaints committee said that it was aware that sustainability involved more than just environmental issues and while it noted the steps taken by Irish dairy farmers to be more sustainable, the advertisement had included an absolute claim that milk was ‘sustainably produced’.

And, in the absence of a qualification or evidence for the claim, the committee considered the claim to be in breach of its standards.

In response to the complaints, the NDC said: "The ‘sustainably produced’ claim was based on substantiated data and assessments of value across the three areas of sustainability - environmental, economic and social - and that the claim was substantiated and evidenced by data and assessments of value that were freely available and, as such, the consumer needed no further knowledge to assess it."

Bord Bia

Separately, a post and video which appeared on Bord Bia's X (Twitter) account was also, according to ASAI, partly in breach of its code.

Four complaints were received by the ASAI objecting to the post which stated: “Irish dairy is different, and on #worldmilkday we celebrate it. To Ireland, where dairy is produced in the traditional way. It’s sustainable, natural and nutritious of course. Discover the story behind every glass at [link to website]."

The complainants considered that the claim that Irish dairy was sustainable was misleading. They considered that there was no evidence-based study that would substantiate the claim and that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture was Ireland’s greatest polluter.

The second issue the complainants had was that they considered the claim that dairy was produced in a traditional way was misleading, as traditional farming methods did not cover the large-scale farming that was done in Ireland.

However, Bord Bia said, in response, that the link in the tweet led to the Irish dairy section of its website where a user could access more information.

For example, Bord Bia said that under the ‘sustainable Irish dairy’ heading, it stated that farmers not only adhered to the EU’s high food safety standards, but that through membership of Origin Green they did more to serve the global market.

Conclusion

The ASAI committee said that the wording of the tweet had included an absolute claim to be ‘sustainable’ without a qualification or evidence to show that it was “sustainable”.

The committee said that references to ‘sustainable’ without a qualification and without a comparator benchmark, where appropriate, were in breach of the ASAI code.

The second issue around using the statement 'traditional way' was dismissed by the ASAI.

The committee noted the information provided on Bord Bia's website on the herd and farm sizes in Ireland, which showed that a significant number of farms in Ireland were both small in land and herd size and also that dairy farming in Ireland was primarily grass-fed outdoor-based, which was a traditional farming method.

In light of this, the committee did not consider that the claim that dairy farming was produced in a ‘traditional’ way was in breach of the code.