The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned beauty retailer Beauty Pie’s LED face mask advert for making misleading antiageing claims.
The ASA shares that the advert, illustrated as a poster on the London Underground network, featured an image of an individual wearing an LED mask, with text claiming, “Clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in four weeks.” The advertising watchdog stated that Beauty Pie did not provide enough evidence to support this claim.
Beauty Pie said that the C-Wave Light Facial LED mask was marketed and distributed by Beauty Pie, but manufactured by a third-party company. Beauty Pie said the device was sold solely for cosmetic use and therefore was not required to carry a UKCA medical device conformity marking.
The company added that the mask had been tested by 28 people aged 30 to 65 over a four-week period. However, the ASA described this as a “relatively small” sample size. Beauty Pie said the results of its trial showed a significant reduction in wrinkles, stating that, after four weeks, 92% of testers either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that, “fine lines appear less visible.”
The ASA found that the way the trial was conducted represented a significant limitation. There was no placebo group, and the sample size was described as “relatively small,” with 28 confirmed participants aged 30-65. The regulator also noted that participants were asked to use an exfoliating product and a hydrogel alongside the mask, products that were not sold with the device.
Speaking with Aesthetics, the ASA said, “This ruling is a reminder that if advertisers make strong claims like “clinically proven,” they need solid evidence to support them. People are likely to take these claims to mean that a product has been scientifically shown to deliver the results being advertised. In this case, we found that the evidence provided wasn’t strong enough to support the claim that the LED mask was clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in just four weeks. Because the claim wasn’t adequately substantiated, we ruled that the ad was misleading.”
Aesthetics has reached out to Beauty Pie, but had no response.