In the new beyond meat national ad for the “We Are Meat” campaign advertisers say “You’ll find this meat wherever you buy meat”. The impossible burger is made from soy protein, coconut oil, and other plant-based ingredients and it’s one of the best imitation meat substitutes on the market, according to consumers.
Of course, it’s not real meat. So, should advertisers really refer to it as such? When asked if the company felt that the Impossible Burger qualified as meat, Rachel Konrad, chief communications officer said “Yes we do. Anatomically, molecule for molecule our product and our product uniquely has the secret sauce of what makes meat, meat.”
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It’s a compelling argument. If a food looks just like meat at the molecular level—a claim The Counter can’t independently confirm, by the way—can’t it simply be called “meat,” regardless of its origin?
In a new ad campaign, Impossible Foods calls its plant-based burger “meat.” Can it do that?
This is in reference to soy leghemoglobin, the company’s soy-based hemoglobin, which makes blood red, giving the Impossible’s ground beef the ability to “bleed” like real meat.
The FTC says in their “Deception Statement” that a product can be deceptive if it contains a “material omission or misrepresentation” that may mislead consumers “to their detriment”. There are currently no FDA regulations for plant-based meat advertising language.