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Commission settles with Sanitarium over "So Good"

Media Release 1998/92

Issued 8 December 1998

In a settlement with the Commerce Commission, Sanitarium has agreed that its "So Good" soy drink television advertising did not accurately describe the effect of "So Good" on cholesterol.

Commission Chairman Peter Allport said that the settlement includes Sanitarium changing its advertising and publishing full-page corrective advertisements in the major daily newspapers. In return, the Commission will withdraw its criminal court proceedings against Sanitarium.

The Commission alleged that each of three "So Good" television advertisements was misleading and breached the Fair Trading Act.

Mr Allport said that it was Sanitarium’s decision to rectify the problem by agreeing to publish corrective advertising that convinced the Commission to withdraw its case in the District Court.

"Our key concern was that the overall impression given by the advertisements was inaccurate," Mr Allport said. "Important conditions were not included, and the Commission’s view is that without the conditions the claim was misleading."

Corrective advertising will explain that drinking "So Good" may help lower your cholesterol if you:

• are suffering from raised cholesterol;
• eat a balanced diet;
• currently drink at least 500ml of whole fat milk a day; and
• replace the whole fat milk with "So Good".

It is important to note that the claim that if these conditions are met "So Good" may help lower your cholesterol is based on extrapolations from a scientific test rather than on the actual results of a test.

The test Sanitarium commissioned was conducted on men with high cholesterol levels, who had been drinking 1000ml of whole fat milk a day and who substituted 1000ml of "So Good" for the milk.

It can be scientifically extrapolated from the test’s results that if a person drinking at least 500ml of whole milk a day, and meeting the other conditions, replaces the milk with "So Good", then they may reduce their cholesterol levels.

"This is quite different from the overall impression given by the television advertisements that drinking ‘So Good’ lowers cholesterol," Mr Allport said.

Background

The Commission alleged three breaches of section 10 of the Fair Trading Act. That section states:

"10. Misleading conduct in relation to goods“ No person shall, in trade, engage in conduct that is liable to mislead the public as to the nature, manufacturing process, characteristics, suitability for a purpose, or quantity of goods.