Dive Brief:
- The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureaus has issued a split decision in regards to Campbell's challenge of whether Progresso soup ads from General Mills were accurate in their depiction of ingredient sourcing.
- NAD ruled that General Mills should modify or discontinue certain Progresso TV spots that suggest the company sources most or all ingredients from farms in rural, southern New Jersey. However, NAD said General Mills' claims that Vineland, NJ, is Progresso's "home" were "reasonable."
- Campbell's main argument against General Mills was that the company implied that all of Progresso's ingredients were locally sourced.
Dive Insight:
That Campbell took issue with this claim demonstrates the appeal of locally sourced ingredients to consumers today.
Local food sales totaled about $12 billion in 2014, according to USDA data, and that market is estimated to reach $20 billion by 2019. However, major manufacturers may have a difficult time sourcing local ingredients at the volume they need to meet consumer demand for their products.
NAD also did not find it problematic that the ads described Progresso as a "small company." Progresso's parent company General Mills was ranked the 10th largest U.S. food and beverage company as of last year, according to Food Processing.
Progresso is the second-largest soup brand in the U.S., following Campbell's.