Adverts for a 'miracle' spot cream, starring celebrities including Katy Perry and Justin Bieber, have been banned in the UK for being misleading.
British watchdogs have banned the Proactiv commercials in Britain since the UK version of the product - which boasts celebrities including Elle Macpherson and Avril Lavigne among its celebrity endorsers - does not contain the same active ingredient used in the American brand.
The Proactiv ads, shown on a teleshopping channel, showed Perry endorsing Proactiv and telling viewers it had helped clear up her problem skin.
A further series of ads on the Proactiv website showed other stars, including Justin Bieber, giving their support for the product.
But a woman contacted the Advertising Standards Authority to complain that the promotional adverts were misleading.
She said the celebrities concerned were likely to have used Proactiv's American brand, which contains an active ingredient not present in the UK version.
Guthy-Renker UK Ltd (GRUK), the direct marketing company behind the ads, said the featured stars had been sent the UK formulations of Proactiv products to use.
They said many of the Proactiv Solution products had only one formulation, used both in America and in the UK, but with different brand names and packaging.
Celebrity endorsers including Perry and Bieber were asked to provide descriptions of their own experiences using the products, and the benefits they had witnessed of such use, and to ensure that any such endorsements would be factually accurate and representative of their honest opinions.
But the ASA banned the ads, noting that while five of the seven celebs made statements saying they had used UK Proactiv products 'for several weeks', the ads implied the benefits came from continual use.
They said: 'We considered the overall impression of the ads was that the celebrities were continued and regular users of Proactiv and noted the same endorsement claims were included on the US Proactiv website.
'We noted the signed statements, which related to only five of the seven testimonials, said the celebrities had each used the UK formulation of the product for a period of only several weeks, between one and three years before the ads appeared.
'We noted the ads were targeted at a UK audience and that the UK Proactiv products had a different active ingredient to the US version.
'In that context, we therefore considered the claims of continued use had not been substantiated. We concluded that the ads were misleading.
'The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told GRUK to ensure endorsements and testimonials in future ads related to the product being advertised.'
Source
