The investor who read like a customer
On Aug 14, 2024 the ASA upheld a complaint about paid Facebook ads for Zoe. The ads featured Steven Bartlett. The ASA said many people would read them as his own view of the product. He was an investor in Zoe. That was not made clear. The ads breached the rules on misleading advertising by omitting material information. Zoe was told not to run them again in that form, and not to leave out a commercial relationship that would matter to someone seeing the ad.
“Just real food”
A separate paid Facebook ad, seen in September 2024, promoted Daily30+ and quoted Bartlett: “This is a supplement revolution. No ultra-processed pills, no shakes, just real food.” A professor of nutrition and food science complained. The ASA upheld the complaint. It said chicory root inulin and nutritional yeast flakes were not whole foods and had been through more than a minimal level of processing, so the ad was likely to mislead. The ruling was first published in May 2025 and replaced on Mar 11, 2026. The decision to uphold it did not change. The ad must not appear in that form.
What another brand can take from it
Both rulings are about the line that actually ran, not about the product in the abstract. A well-known face with a stake in the brand is part of the claim. So is a phrase like “just real food” when the ingredients do not match what a viewer will hear. The check belongs on the finished ad, before it is published. This note is drawn from the published ASA rulings. It is not a finding about Zoe’s products, and it is not legal advice.
