Last but not least: Golden Windbag for Actimel
"Actimel strengthens the immune system and helps against colds": an advertising phrase that still rings in the ears of every regular TV consumer. Now Foodwatch has awarded the manufacturer Danone the Golden Windbag 2009 for the most audacious advertising lie of the year.
"Actimel strengthens the immune system and helps against colds": an advertising phrase that still rings in the ears of every regular TV consumer. But a true one, as the company announces on the Actimel.de website. The Öko-Test gave Actimel a good rating, ten years of clinical research and over 30 studies have proven that Actimel activates the immune system. And yet the consumer organization Foodwatch awarded the manufacturer Danone the Golden Windbag 2009 for the most audacious advertising lie of the year. According to Anne Markwardt, head of the Foodwatch campaign Abgespeist.de, Actimel as a miracle cure for colds is a "big probiotic fairy tale", as quoted in an OTS report. The drinking yoghurt not only strengthens the immune system just as well as conventional natural yoghurts, it is also four times as expensive.
More than 35,000 consumers saw it the same way in the online vote for the Golden Windbag. Around 47 percent of those who voted saw Actimel as the most brazen case of fraudulent labeling. The aim of the Foodwatch campaign is to expose the legal advertising lies of food manufacturers and to give consumers the opportunity to express their anger about fraudulent labeling. The aim is to get these companies to stop their advertising practices.
However, Actimel does not entirely agree with this, as the drinking yogurt manufacturer is convinced on its homepage: "Our advertising is correct in terms of content. That was the case in the past. And that also applies to the future". Abgespeist.de is nevertheless generous: on www.abgespeist.de the consumer has the option of sending Danone a ready-made "congratulatory telegram".
More than 35,000 consumers saw it the same way in the online vote for the Golden Windbag. Around 47 percent of those who voted saw Actimel as the most brazen case of fraudulent labeling. The aim of the Foodwatch campaign is to expose the legal advertising lies of food manufacturers and to give consumers the opportunity to express their anger about fraudulent labeling. The aim is to get these companies to stop their advertising practices.
However, Actimel does not entirely agree with this, as the drinking yogurt manufacturer is convinced on its homepage: "Our advertising is correct in terms of content. That was the case in the past. And that also applies to the future". Abgespeist.de is nevertheless generous: on www.abgespeist.de the consumer has the option of sending Danone a ready-made "congratulatory telegram".
