Bournvita controversy: Recently Bournvita, a leading health drink brand targeted to kids and teenagers was caught in a controversy. A social media influencer “foodpharmer” posted on his Instagram reel abut the extremely high sugar content. Mondalez, that owns Cadbury and Bournvita, took a legal action. By sending influencer Revant Himatsingka a legal notice for his Instagram Post criticizing the firm for touting what he thought were questionable health claims of its chocolate “health” drink Bournvita, Cadbury may have done itself a great favor.
For starters, by the time it was removed under duress, the video had amassed 12 million views on Instagram, meaning that anyone with an interest in the topic had already viewed it. It may have even passed away naturally, as many other recent social media-related crises have done.
Cadbury could have stated the fact to convince consumers. Bournvita should have done a proper “Taiyyari Jeet Ki” for this crisis. There is a massive amount of online content questioning the effectiveness of such drinks as they mostly contain sugar. Bournvita is not new to controversies. It faced a similar situation in India in 2013 over the claims made by the popular malted milk drink brand Bournvita, which is manufactured by Mondelez International.
The controversy started when the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), a self-regulatory organization for advertising in India, received a complaint against a Bournvita advertisement that claimed that the drink could help children improve their intelligence and increase their concentration. The complainant argued that such claims were not scientifically proven and were therefore misleading.
In response, Mondelez defended its claims, stating that the advertisement was based on research and was not misleading. However, the ASCI ruled that the claims made in the advertisement were not substantiated by scientific evidence and were therefore in violation of advertising guidelines.
The controversy sparked a larger debate about the role of advertising in promoting unhealthy food products to children and the need for more regulation in this area. It also raised questions about the credibility of scientific research used to support advertising claims and the responsibility of companies to ensure that their marketing is accurate and truthful.
Ironically, Bourvita started in India with “tan ki shakti man ki shakti” positioning.
Now, it is the time that Bournvita should practice “Sach Ki Shakti” to clarify its stand and doubts on ingredients. Moreover, consumers should also excercise caution and do the due diligence before blindly believing the claims made in ads.
A screenshot of Nutritional information of Bournvita taken from Amazon India is given for reader’s reference.
