The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a ruling against a television advertisement from Braun which claimed their at-home intense pulsed light (IPL) device could lead to ‘permanent’ hair removal.
The advert, which featured former girl group member Frankie Bridge, stated, ‘Braun Silk-expert IPL. Permanent visible hair removal without going to the salon.’ This was followed by a concluding image of the device alongside the caption, ‘Permanent visible hair removal, at home.’
Three complainants questioned whether the claim of ‘permanent visible hair removal’ was misleading and could be substantiated.
In response, Procter & Gamble t/a Braun stated the IPL device heats up dark hair follicles, effectively stopping the hair regrowth cycle for ‘visible’ hairs on the skin’s surface. The company presented clinical data which they believed matched with the US Food & Drug Administration definition of permanency (‘a long-term stable reduction of the number of re-growing hairs’). The data showed that after the initial treatment, there was an average reduction in hair count of more than 30%, after six months an average reduction of 43.9% and after 12 months an average reduction of 36%.
Nevertheless, because the UK has no recognised industry standard for defining permanency, the ASA ruled that viewers would assume ‘permanent’ meant there would be no regrowth whatsoever. The ASA found that the data presented by the company was not sufficient to substantiate this. They concluded that the advertisement was not clear enough in showing that repeat applications of the device would be required to achieve sustained results.
The ASA ruled that the advertisement must not appear in the same format, and in future, Procter & Gamble t/a Braun must not state or imply that the device can achieve permanent hair removal without adequate substantiation.
