An advert that appeared on Steven Bartlett's podcast The Diary Of A CEO has been banned.
The advert for meal replacement brand Huel was "not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication", according to a complaint upheld by the industry watchdog, The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
It appeared in March during an episode titled 'World’s Leading Psychologist: How To Detach From Overthinking and Anxiety: Dr Julie Smith E122'.
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Huel said it takes its responsibilities under the CAP Code "very seriously" and believed the podcast did not include an ad because it had no editorial control over its content.
It added that, while it did not believe that the podcast was an ad, it "appreciated the importance of the issue raised" and The Diary of a CEO team had added wording, after ASA contact, at the start of the endorsement to further support the existing markers.
Mr Bartlett, who also stars in Dragons' Den, said that while Huel sponsored the podcast it did not have editorial control over the ad and the hyperlink to Huel in the podcast description was not an affiliate link because he did not receive any direct benefit from any products purchased by a consumer through it.
The ASA said the ad must not appear again in the form complained of and that it had told Huel and Mr Bartlett to ensure that "they made clear the commercial intent of advertising content in podcasts in future".
The ASA said: "The ASA acknowledged that Steven Bartlett took steps to try and distinguish the advertising content from the rest of the podcast.
"However, the CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such, and that they must make clear their commercial intent if that was not obvious from the context.
"The ASA noted Huel’s comment that they sponsored the podcast and so while Steven Bartlett was paid by Huel, they had no editorial control over the podcast and there was no affiliate link.
"Although the ASA had not seen whether the contract between the parties included clauses which represented any such control, the ASA understood that Steven Bartlett was in any case a non-executive director at Huel and therefore, had a commercial relationship with the brand, in addition to the payment arrangement for the podcast.
"The podcast also included a link in the description that allowed consumers to purchase products from the Huel website.
"Because the content of the podcast promoted Huel products and was directly connected to the supply of goods through the link in the description, we considered that the podcast was a marketing communication which fell within the ASA’s remit. We therefore did not need to assess further the extent of editorial control Huel had over the podcast.
"We considered that it should be obvious that any advertising feature was an ad and that information was delivered in a timely fashion.
"The ad began with the audible sound of a page turning and the wording, 'Quick one. For many years people have been asking for a coffee flavoured Huel …'
"We noted that the beginning of the section did not include any upfront wording that obviously identified it as an ad. We further considered that the page-turn sound effects at the beginning and end were brief and quiet and therefore had the potential to be missed or overlooked.
"In addition, while some listeners may have noted the sound effect it was not immediately obvious that it indicated a change in the content or that the change was a segue to advertising material.
"This was compounded by Steven Bartlett voicing the advertising content in a similar style and tone to the editorial material and therefore not differing significantly between the two.
"We therefore concluded that the commercial intent behind the ad was not made clear upfront and it was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication."
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