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Johnnesburg - The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dismissed a complaint over information on Valpré's website that 30% of its plantbottle product was made from plants.
"The [ASA] directorate is satisfied that an average consumer would correctly interpret the claim to mean that each bottle bought would contain as much as 30% plant material," it said in its ruling on Wednesday.
"The complaint is dismissed."
Currently, only Coca Cola SA uses a material called plantbottle in South Africa to package its Valpré spring water with the plantbottle™ logo. None of its other bottles carry the logo.
Mark Jackson lodged a complaint against Coca Cola SA over claims made on the website www.valpre.co.za.
The website states: "plantbottle™up to 30 percent made from plants, 100 percent recyclable bottle, redesigned plastic, recyclable as ever".
Jackson took issue with “up to 30 percent made from plants” and argued that it was misleading because it did not indicate how many bottles met the 30% mark.
He submitted that a few bottles could hypothetically contain 30% plant material, whereas the vast majority could contain none. Coca Cola submitted that Jackson appeared to have misunderstood the claim.
It said every one of its plantbottle products was made from up to 30% plants.
Coca Cola said it uses breakthrough technology to reduce its environmental impact while achieving superior performance.
It said it had already been recognised with several international achievement awards, and submitted confidential information in support of this.
The ASA said the information contained on the website provided an elementary explanation of how the respondent produces its plantbottle product, from which it was clear that the claimed “up to 30 percent …” applied to each and every bottle.
