ASA bans Huel ad with Spencer Matthews over an all-Huel diet story

An ultramarathon anecdote has cost Huel one of its social ads. The Advertising Standards Authority upheld four complaints on 30 September against a video featuring founder Julian Hearn and TV presenter Spencer Matthews. It ran on Instagram and as a YouTube pre-roll in April and May.

Hearn told Matthews about a 260km race won on Huel alone

The ad was shot like a podcast. Hearn said he uses Huel for breakfast and lunch on working days. He then described a runner who won a 260km race in the Amazon while eating nothing but Huel, and said the product gives people everything they need.

The ASA said the story put an all-Huel diet in a particularly positive light. Caveats in the ad did not do enough to undo that. Viewers could take away that replacing all food with Huel was fine, even for elite endurance sport. The full ruling is on the ASA website.

The ASA also upheld a complaint about health claims

The video linked Huel with the ability to sustain very high physical performance. That claim is not on the GB register of authorised health claims, so it could not be used. The ASA said the ads must not appear again in their current form.

Huel says the video set out to correct the 100% myth

Huel told the regulator the video was made because some customers live on its products alone, and it wanted to address that. It called the ultramarathon story an isolated case, not advice. It admitted that its “nutritionally complete” wording lacked the required disclaimers and said staff now take mandatory compliance training.

The ruling follows other high-profile ASA decisions, such as the Sports Direct ban over RRP claims. In the EU, generic green claims became illegal on 27 September, another sign that ad wording faces closer checks.

Food and supplement brands that build ads around customer stories can check one line in their scripts today. If the story sounds stronger than the caveat, the ASA reads the story as the message.