‘Not cool!’ Chilli addict rants over Nik Naks with ‘absolutely no heat’

Judging from the introductory video on his “Chilli Fans” YouTube channel, Vaughan Greene doesn't take his “chilli addiction” all that seriously.

So he may have had his burning tongue firmly inserted in his cheek when he complained to the advertising watchdog that “Flamin' Hot” Nik Naks are nothing of the kind.

Nevertheless, members of the Advertising Regulatory Board directorate went as far as performing a taste test before rejecting Greene's complaint this week.

“Reactions varied from 'sweet' to 'I can taste the chilli but it is very mild' to 'I need a glass of water'. This illustrates the very subjective nature of the question before the directorate,” the finding reported.

And it said Nik Naks were aimed at children and the flavour description was crafted with them in mind.

“‘Flamin’ hot’ is somewhat of an exaggeration,” it said. “It is clear that people who eat a lot of chilli will not find this product especially hot.

“However, [we] accept this as acceptable puffery in the context that the product is a chip (and is) ... marketed to children.”

Greene, whose introductory video portrays him and his friends as addicts at a meeting similar to those run by Alcoholics Anonymous, complained that the Nik Naks he bought had “absolutely no heat”.

“It’s really disappointing that a company would be using the chilli fad to trick people into buying a product that isn't even close to what they were advertising,” he said.

Simba, which makes Nik Naks, said even though the ingredients list on the packet did not mention chilli pepper and chilli extract, they were part of the spice mix referred to.

“In general, the question as to what can be considered the correct level of spice for any food product varies from consumer to consumer,” it said in its response to the watchdog.

“Since the launch of the complaint product in June 2021, Simba received 20 seasoning-related complaints via our consumer care platform, which represent a negligible 0.00228% ration when measured against total volume of the product sold over an eight-month period.”

Greene's other videos review chilli products, and Chilli Fans also has a website and a Facebook page.

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