Compostable coffee capsule ad deemed "misleading"
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that consumers could be misled that Lavazza Eco Caps can be composted at home.
Lavazza Coffee (UK) Ltd claimed ‘compostable’ would be understood as meaning that a product was made of compostable material, and not necessarily that it was compostable within a domestic compost.
They said it was not their intention for consumers to understand their ad as suggesting the capsules were home compostable. The capsules were certified for industrial composting, and that was stated on their website.
A paid-for search ad for Lavazza Eco Caps coffee pods, seen on 7 June 2024, stated 'Lavazza [...] New Eco Caps'. Further text below stated 'Lavazza A Modo Mio Eco Caps: the coffee shop taste in compostable capsules for your home. Good as usual, feels even better! The taste of Lavazza Coffee in a Compostable Capsule [...] Your Espresso at Home'.
The capsules had been certified to the European Standard EN13432. A product certified to meet that standard is designed to breakdown within an industrial compost.
The ASA case upheld the consumer claim that the wording was misleading, saying, ‘consumers would understand the claim ‘compostable capsules’, in the context of an ad for a consumer product for use in the home, to mean that the capsules were compostable and that they could be composted at home’.
The judgment held the ad must not appear again in the form investigated.
The ASA told Lavazza Coffee (UK) Ltd to ‘ensure their search ads did not mislead over the correct route for disposal when making composting claims or omit material information about the disposal of compostable products’.
The ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on ads making compostable claims, identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by the ASA.
Advertising codes have been updated to reflect the revocation and restatement of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
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