ASA cracks down on biodegradability claims in ad for Mum & You baby wipes

25 Oct 2022 --- The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld two issues against a complaint on the biodegradability claim of baby wipes in an advert by Mum & You. The organization found the advert to be misleading to consumers as it breached multiple broadcast advertising code rules, including substantiation and environmental claims.

The company’s advert on Amazon made statements regarding how quickly the wipes break down when disposed of, claiming to be 100% biodegradable. It stated: “Being biodegradable is important to us as it means today’s mess won’t be a problem for tomorrow’s generation.”

The ASA concluded the statement to be an ‘absolute claim’ according to the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code) and, therefore, would need a high level of substantiation, which was deemed to be unprovided.

“Ads [by Mum & You] must not appear again in the forms complained about. We told [the company] to ensure that in future they did not make environmental claims about their products unless they held adequate substantiation,” stated ASA in its ruling.

Mum & You advert claimed the wipes to be 100% biodegradable.Biodegradability claim evidence presented
Mum & You said that its wipes were made from viscose, a plastic-like material derived from wood. The company professed its wipes were plastic-free and made from 99.5% naturally derived ingredients.

It provided two reports from a biodegradability testing company: the first related to the wipes’ biodegradation in landfills and the second to their biodegradation in home composting conditions. Both tests used industry-standard methods.

The first test simulated an anaerobic landfill environment because the anaerobic digestion was a dry (less than 20% solids) and stationary (no mixing) environment. The test showed that, by 15 days, the wipe had an 86.6% biodegradation rate. This meant that 86.6% of the carbon in the wipe had been converted to carbon in the biogas (carbon dioxide and methane). Bacteria utilized the remaining carbon (13.4%) in the wipe for energy. This demonstrated that the wipe degraded completely.

The second test report, carried out after the ad was published, calculated the compostability of the wipes in a home compostability testing program according to the European standard.

It mixed the wipe with compost – mature compost and garden, fruit and vegetable waste – and was incubated at an ambient temperature in the dark. The test showed that, after two weeks, only the border of the wipe in the samples remained, and after four weeks, the samples had disintegrated entirely. The test was stopped after four weeks instead of the maximum duration of 26 weeks.

Mum & You also provided a certificate from an accreditation organization that clarified that the wipes were compostable at home.

ASA Ruling
Despite the evidence submitted, the claims made by Mum & You were not supported by ASA’s level of substantiation.

“Given how consumers would understand the claim in the ads, we expected to see evidence that the baby wipes could fully biodegrade often within 15 days, in all conditions,” ASA detailed.

The ruling explains that the test used an anaerobic environment. In contrast, according to ASA, the surrounding environment is aerobic when household waste is deposited at a landfill in the UK. It would only become anaerobic over time, which could take several months to a year.

“We understood that consumers would place the used wipe in the bin whole and we had not seen evidence that the test’s approach of breaking up the wipe would not speed up the biodegradation rate.”The ASA ruled that the claims were unsubstantiated. 

“Additionally, during the test, the wipes were clean. However, we understood that baby wipes were seldom thrown away clean. Rather, they were used to clean away organic matter, namely food, feces and other bodily secretions. We had not seen evidence that the test accounted for the effect such organic matter would have on the wipes’ biodegradation rate,” stated ASA.

Regarding the compostability test carried out on the wipe, ASA noted that the report post-dated the ad. After analyzing the reports submitted against the claims made by Mum & You, ASA found that the ad breached three BCAP Codes.

Tackling fickle claims
Previously speaking to PersonalCareInsights, Chimere Nwosu, media and public affairs officer at ASA, spotlighted the authority’s crackdown on environmental claims.

“The ASA conducts proactive monitoring of ad claims across different sectors and we respond to concerns from members of the public or businesses about green claims they think are misleading or irresponsible. We have several investigations underway that touch on significant issues that we’ll publish in the coming months,” Nwosu informed.

She shared that between April and September, 9% of ASA rulings were on environmental issues, an increase that “amounts to one in ten” cases.

Edited by Radhika Sikaria