Huel and Zoe ads banned over failing to disclose links to Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett

PA STILLS
Steven Bartlett, host of the popular Diary of a CEO podcast, failed to disclose his investments in either company in their adverts. Credit: PA

Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett’s ads for Huel and Zoe have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for failing to disclose their commercial relationship with the celebrity entrepreneur.

The ASA found the two adverts for Huel and one for Zoe were misleading or likely to mislead consumers.

The ads, seen on Facebook in February, “omitted material information” about their links to Bartlett, who is an investor in Zoe and a director at Huel.

The Zoe advert, promoting their offer of at-home health tests and a personalised nutritional programme, was a picture of Bartlett with a Zoe patch on his arm, with a quote from Bartlett saying: “If you haven’t tried Zoe yet, give it a shot. It might just change your life.”

Bartlett's advert with Zoe, which showed him wearing on of their patches, made no mention of his investment in the health company Credit: Advertising Standards Authority/PA Wire

Huel, who primarily sell meal replacement powders, ran ads featuring Bartlett, on the set of his hit podcast The Diary Of A CEO, stating that its Daily Greens powder was the “best product” it had released.

Defending the ads, both companies argued that consumers had no doubt about the existence of such commercial relationships when they saw the endorsement within a paid-for ad taken out by a company.

This expectation removed the need for the commercial relationship to be explicitly stated.

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.

However, the ASA found that many consumers were unlikely to understand from the ads that Bartlett had a financial interest in the companies’ performance.

On Zoe, the regulator said: “Steven Bartlett was an investor in Zoe, which we considered was material to consumers’ understanding of the ad and relevant in making an informed decision about the product.

“Because the ad omitted material information about Steven Bartlett being an investor in Zoe, we concluded that it was misleading.”

In regards to Huel: “We considered that Bartlett’s directorship was material to consumers’ understanding of the ads, and so relevant for them in making an informed decision about the advertised product.

Bartlett is a director of Huel, and yet failed to disclose that in two separate adverts over the past 2 years Credit: Advertising Standards Authority/PA Wire

“Because the ads omitted material information about Steven Bartlett’s position as a director at Huel, we concluded they were likely to mislead.”

This isn’t the first time Huel has been found to have crossed the line: the ASA also banned a podcast advert for Huel in 2022, where Bartlett said during a segment on his podcast that he had “become hooked on” an iced coffee caramel-flavour Huel drink.

ITV News has approached Huel, Zoe and Bartlett for comment.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...