Skin-deep truths about beauty
Skin-care advertisements are being hammered by tough new rulings
INFLATED claims in the beauty industry are a hazard of the trade. But a recent spate of tough adjudications by the advertising regulator is puncturing some of them. Rodial, a British skin-care company, claimed a product called “Boob Job” could increase a woman's bra size from 32A/B to “a much fuller and firmer 32C”. Its website said the product contained a compound called Volufiline, which would “stimulate adipocyte differentiation and promote lipid storage, leading to an increase in adipocyte volume in the fatty tissue”.
Not only was there no scientific evidence for this, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled last month, but beauty products in Britain are not licensed to modify physiology. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency agreed. Rodial was duly ordered by the ASA to remove the claim from its website.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Skin-deep truths about beauty"
From the October 22nd 2011 edition
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