A top cosmetics company which claimed that women who used one of its skin products would see "wrinkles disappear instantly" broke advertising rules, says the regulator.
A top cosmetics company which claimed that women who used one of its skin products would see "wrinkles disappear instantly" broke advertising rules, says the regulator.Estee Lauder Cosmetics markets Tri-aktiline Instant Deep Wrinkle Filler – which co
sts £25 for 30ml – to people hoping to see a reduction in wrinkles, frown lines and brow lines.
But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found the cosmetic company could not provide sufficient evidence to support claims for the product made in advertising.
The ASA said today the company failed to provide sufficient evidence from its clinical and consumer trials to support their assertions.
The first half of the complaint, which the ASA upheld, dealt with the claim users would start to see wrinkles disappear "instantly".
Estee Lauder Cosmetics said their product was a kind of Polyfilla for the skin, filling in cracks and wrinkles to smooth the surface.
The regulator was given evidence provided by a clinical trial of 23 women which used an "imaging technique" to show the effect on lines and wrinkles.
It found although the imaging did reveal an effect on wrinkles, the results were not obviously visible to the naked eye.
The cosmetics company said it also conducted a consumer evaluation study involving 50 women but the ASA criticised it for failing to submit the full method and results of the study to support their case.
"We concluded that the clinical study and excerpts from the consumer evaluation study were not sufficient to substantiate the claim and therefore that Estee Lauder had not justified it," the ASA said.
The second half of the complaint, which was also upheld, was in relation to claims that 68 per cent of subjects immediately reported a visible filling of wrinkles; that after four weeks of continued use 83 per cent of users reported improvement in the appearance of lines; and that after eight weeks clinical studies measured a 45 per cent visible reduction in wrinkle depth and length.
The ASA said claims of a cumulative reduction in the appearance of wrinkles required a high level of empirical proof and said Estee Lauder had submitted only one study on 23 subjects. The study provided was inadequate to support claims of visible changes, it said.
The ASA ruled the advertisement must not appear again.
A spokeswoman for Beauty Bank, a brand within the Estee Lauder company, said: "We feel the ASA failed to understand the nature of the product as a physical filler and therefore they wrongly interpreted the data we did submit. We are looking at our future advertising (of the product) at the moment and we will take their position into account."
She said she could not comment on the number of people in the trials.
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