THE ad watchdog has dismissed a complaint against Vitasoy after an upset TV viewer questioned the brand’s right to describe soy milk as “milk”.

The ad in question features sweeping shots of fields of wheat and grains, with a voiceover repeating the word “milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk”, before displaying oat milk and soy milk products with the tagline, “Growing milk since 1940.”

The complaint to the Advertising Standards Bureau accused drinks giant Lion of misleading and deceptive conduct. “The definition of milk is a ‘white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals’,” wrote the complainant, who one suspects is a dairy farmer.

“There is no such thing is oat milk. There is no such thing as soy milk. The liquid produced by mixing water with oats, is not milk. You cannot milk an oat, like you can a cow.

“To base a whole advertisement around a lie, and a voiceover that says ‘MILK, MILK, MILK, MILK’ over and over again is misleading. It just isn’t true.”

Vitasoy celebrates soy growers of Australia Vitasoy celebrates soy growers of Australia

In its response, Vitasoy strongly disagreed that the ad was misleading. “In Australia, consumers are very familiar with the term ‘milk’ being used to refer to plant-based beverages that are milky in colour, milky in texture, and often used as a replacement or alternative to dairy based milk,” it said.

“Common examples of these type of beverages are soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk and oat milk. Plant-based milks have been sold in the Australian market and labelled and marketed as, for example, ‘soy milk’ and ‘almond milk’ for decades, and since at least the 1980s.

“The term ‘...milk’ has become deeply entrenched with consumers as the way to refer to plant-based-beverages that are milky in colour, milky in texture, and often used as a replacement or alternative to dairy-based milk.”

The company then busted out the dictionary, pointing out that while Macquarie does indeed define “milk” as the “white liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals”, it lists a second definition as “liquid obtained by crushing parts of plants as beans or nuts or tubers”.

“We also note that one of the definitions of ‘milk’ in the Oxford Dictionary is ‘The white juice of certain plants’ and gives ‘coconut milk’ as an example,” Vitasoy wrote.

“For completeness, we are also confident that the advertisement does not mislead consumers that Vitasoy products are, or are related, to cows milk or milk from any other mammal.

“The context presented by the advertisement, which only features shots of plants, renders any confusion that Vitasoy products are animal milk extremely unlikely.

“The use of the word ‘milk’ with such imagery is intended to draw consumers’ specific attention to the obvious and clear inference that the ‘milk’ referred to in the advertisement comes from the plants depicted.”

In its determination, the Advertising Standards Board “noted the complainant’s concern that the definition of milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals”, but accepted the second dictionary definition.

“The Board noted that the advertisement does not make any claims regarding nutritional equivalence to dairy or any other mammal milk and that the overall context of the advertisement clearly represents the products as being from plants,” the ASB wrote.

“In the Board’s view, most members of the community would recognise and accept plant-based milk products as ‘milk’ and considered that the advertisement did not breach Section 2.1 of the Food Code.”

Earlier this year, McDonald’s similarly used the dictionary to shoot down a complaint after a viewer took issue with its claim to have “Australia’s most popular” coffee.

frank.chung@news.com.au