Ad description
A website, www.jazzydeals.co.uk, featured an anti-snoring device. Text stated "Uses Natural Ingredients ... Asonor contains natural ingredients and therefore there is not any known side effect [sic]".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "contains natural ingredients and therefore there is not any known side effect [sic]" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
JazzyDeals Ltd (JazzyDeals) said they were a re-seller of the product and not the manufacturer or main UK agent. They obtained stock via a wholesale clearance website and advertised the product for sale on their own website and a number of third-party websites. The product details were taken directly from the manufacturer's website and JazzyDeals therefore believed they were factual and accurate.
The claim did not state "all natural ingredients". One ingredient was natural and used in various beauty and body products and this was supported by online articles. The wording "not any known side effect" referred to the product and not to any of its individual ingredients.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that, because the claim appeared on www.jazzydeals.co.uk, JazzyDeals was responsible for responding to the complaint and submitting evidence to substantiate the claim.
We had not received evidence that the product contained natural ingredients or was without side effects and therefore considered that the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading. The claim "Asonor contains natural ingredients and therefore there is not any known side effect [sic]" also suggested that the product was safe merely because it was "natural" and therefore also breached the Code in this regard.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation),
12.1
12.1
Objective claims must be backed by evidence, if relevant consisting of trials conducted on people. Substantiation will be assessed on the basis of the available scientific knowledge.
Medicinal or medical claims and indications may be made for a medicinal product that is licensed by the MHRA, VMD or under the auspices of the EMA, or for a CE-marked medical device. A medicinal claim is a claim that a product or its constituent(s) can be used with a view to making a medical diagnosis or can treat or prevent disease, including an injury, ailment or adverse condition, whether of body or mind, in human beings.
Secondary medicinal claims made for cosmetic products as defined in the appropriate European legislation must be backed by evidence. These are limited to any preventative action of the product and may not include claims to treat disease.
12.9
12.9
Marketers must not encourage consumers to use a product to excess and must hold proof before suggesting their product or therapy is guaranteed to work, absolutely safe or without side-effects (subject to rule
12.1
12.1
Objective claims must be backed by evidence, if relevant consisting of trials conducted on people. Substantiation will be assessed on the basis of the available scientific knowledge.
Medicinal or medical claims and indications may be made for a medicinal product that is licensed by the MHRA, VMD or under the auspices of the EMA, or for a CE-marked medical device. A medicinal claim is a claim that a product or its constituent(s) can be used with a view to making a medical diagnosis or can treat or prevent disease, including an injury, ailment or adverse condition, whether of body or mind, in human beings.
Secondary medicinal claims made for cosmetic products as defined in the appropriate European legislation must be backed by evidence. These are limited to any preventative action of the product and may not include claims to treat disease.
).
and
12.10
12.10
Marketing communications must not suggest that any product is safe or effective merely because it is "natural" or that it is generally safer because it omits an ingredient in common use.
(Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The claim must not appear again in its current form. We told JazzyDeals Ltd to hold evidence to substantiate their marketing claims. We also told them not to imply that a product was safe merely because it was "natural".
