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The UK's Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) has banned meal replacement brand Huel’s Facebook advertising for making "irresponsible and misleading" financial- and health-related claims. In its ruling on Wednesday, ASA announced that its two complaints had been upheld. The first complaint was that Huel's paid-for Facebook advert (posted on 29 August and 6 September) could have been interpreted by consumers to mean that the purchase of Huel products would save them money. The ad read: “Huel helps keep money in your pockets. An entire month’s worth of Huel works out at less than £50. Huel isn’t just the healthy option with perfectly balanced protein, carbs, fats and fibres, it’s the smart option too”. Below the text, the ad featured an image of a smoothie with a backdrop of vegetables and pulses, next to large text that read: 'Want to save money on food?'. ASA stated that Huel had not made it “sufficiently clear” to consumers that the saving was based on one Huel product a day and was, therefore, “not equivalent” to a monthly food bill. The second complaint related to an article published on Huel's website, titled 'Five ways to save money on food'. The article stated: “In this day and age, spending money can often feel a little too easy, while eating well can feel harder than it should. Is there a way to eat healthy while saving money? Absolutely! Eating healthily doesn’t need to break the bank – read on for five ways you can save money on your food”. The first suggestion was subtitled 'Embrace processed food & meal replacements,' under which text included “… while we’ll never call Huel a meal replacement, it is often thought as such in this context. Huel is another great example of processed food being able to help you save money on food”. ASA commented that the CAP (advertising standards) code requires references to the general benefits of a nutrient or food for health-related wellbeing to be accompanied by a specific authorised health claim. In the ruling, ASA said: “We considered that the claim “Huel isn’t just a healthy option …” was a general health claim because it referred to the general benefits of a nutrient or food for overall good health or health-related wellbeing. However, it was not accompanied by a specific authorised health claim…We concluded that the ad breached the Code because it included a general health claim that was not accompanied by a specific authorised health claim.” A spokesperson for Huel said: “We take our responsibilities under the CAP code seriously, and when brought to our attention, we pulled the ads and removed the article from our website. Since day one, Huel's mission has been to make nutritionally complete, convenient and affordable food and we will continue to do so.”