ASA Adjudication on Lifestylealerts.co.uk
Lifestylealerts.co.uk
Unit 2d
Gatwick Gate Industrial Estate
Lowfield Heath
Crawley
RH11 0TG
Date:
4 July 2012
Media:
Internet (display)
Sector:
Health and beauty
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A12-191681
Ad
An online banner ad, linked to the website www.lifestylealerts.co.uk, which promoted the anti-ageing skincare products Radialabs and DermaLift-SP, was headlined "Botox Docs Hate Her" and included a photograph labelled "BEFORE" which showed a blonde woman with noticeable signs of facial ageing, and a photograph labelled "AFTER" which showed a blonde woman with no noticeable signs of facial ageing.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the 'before' and 'after' images in the ad were misleading because:
1. she believed the photographs showed two different women; and
2. she did not believe the photographs provided an accurate representation of the efficacy of the products.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
Lifestylealerts.co.uk did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
1. & 2. Upheld.
The ASA was concerned by Lifestylealerts.co.uk's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We noted that we had not seen any evidence that the before and after photos were genuine and accurately represented the efficacy of the products and therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.11 (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance Team.
