Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
The ASA has investigated advertisements that use the description of a market as a “farmers’ market”.
The National Farmers' Retail & Markets Association (FARMA) has a set of criteria that it applies to farmers’ markets. But the ASA noted that it is not mandatory for markets to sign up to FARMA’s criteria for them to describe themselves as farmers’ markets.
Although it considered that readers were likely to understand the term to refer to a market that was run by farmers selling their produce direct to the public, the ASA considered that most readers were unlikely to be aware of the FARMA criteria for the term “farmers’ market” and would therefore not expect a farmers’ market to adhere to those criteria. (Eurostar Group, 20 February 2008).
On that basis CAP would expect that, if a market is made up of stalls run by farmers selling their produce direct to the public, the description of that market as a farmers’ market is unlikely to breach the Code.
The ASA has also considered the use of the term “farmers’ market” when applied to products other than markets. It considered whether consumers were likely to be misled by two ads for a soup not made from produce from farmers’ markets. The ads claimed “Heinz Farmers' Market soups are great tasting, hearty soups containing selected ingredients from the UK and other countries inspired by Farmers' Markets” and “These great tasting, hearty soups are made using selected wholesome ingredients that you would find at a Farmers' Market”. The ASA considered that, because the source of the ingredients used in the soups was clear and because the advertiser’s consumer research showed that consumers were not confused by the provenance of the ingredients used in the soups, the ads were unlikely to mislead (HJ Heinz Company Ltd, 26 March 2008).
Last modified : 29 March 2012