• April 6, 2007

An advertising watchdog has ruled that Smart Balance was laying it on thick when it claimed its margarine "tastes most like butter - even better!"

The national ad division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus recommended that GFA Brands Inc. stop running TV ads claiming its Smart Balance Buttery Spread tastes like butter, according to a published report.

GFA had argued that the claim was just a promotional claim that no one takes literally. The company argued that it was sensitive to the issue and had voluntarily stopped using the "even better" advertisement.

The complaint was brought by Arden Hill, Minn.-based Land O'Lakes Inc., which sells butter and other dairy products.

Land O'Lakes told the bureau that a butter substitute that tasted "even better" than butter, as one ad suggested, "would represent a significant development for consumers," according to the division's ruling.