Huel Faces Regulatory Action from UK Ad Watchdog Over Health Claims

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken action against Huel, a meal-replacement brand recently acquired by Danone, over claims made in its advertising. In its latest ruling, the ASA found two instances of Huel's advertising content—an Instagram video and a YouTube advert—violating regulations regarding unauthorised health claims.

These adverts featured Huel founder Julian Hearn in conversation with media figure Spencer Matthews, where Matthews mentioned a competitor who completed a 260km Amazon rainforest race, sustained solely by Huel products. The ASA highlighted this exchange as presenting Huel in a context that could imply an exclusively Huel-based diet supports excellent performance in tough endurance events.

The ASA concluded this discussion breached social responsibility standards, as it effectively suggested that superior performance in endurance sports could be attributed to a Huel-only diet. Furthermore, the regulators noted such claims were not approved under Britain's nutrition and health requirements.

In response, Huel defended the content of the ads, stating that the narrative was more of an unusual story rather than a performance claim, meant to address public misconceptions and discourage total reliance on Huel products. Despite this, Huel recognised oversights in explanatory aspects of the product's nutritional nature.

Following the ruling, Huel has undertaken steps to improve compliance, including implementing mandatory training for its marketing team and revising its internal review procedures. The ASA has required these ads to be modified before they can be used again and issued a warning to avoid encouraging exclusive consumption and unauthorized health-related assertions in future campaigns.