The Advertising Standards Authority received two complaints that the advert for the Sanex Zero per cent bathing range implied the products contained no man-made chemical ingredients and that the ad made claims that the product ‘contains just the ingredients you need for clean, healthy skin’, which was also misleading.
ASA considered that the overall impression given by the ad was that the Sanex range of products contained only those ingredients essential for clean and healthy skin, and that this was indeed misleading; leading to a ban.
The ad in question featured images of a crowd of naked individuals applying various coloured substances to their bodies, with the accompanying voice-over stating "We put so many different chemical ingredients onto our skin".
Healthy skin claim
The ad then featured an image of a woman in the shower using the advertised product and was accompanied by a voice-over which stated "New Sanex Zero per cent contains just the ingredients you need for clean, healthy skin. Keep skin healthy".
Colgate-Palmolive believed the ad highlighted the distinction between the number of ingredients in shower gel products, but did not demonstrate a distinction between natural and man-made ingredients.
It said the Sanex Zero per cent range contained between nine and eleven ingredients, compared to the market average of 23 ingredients, and said the ad made no reference to natural ingredients which might lead the consumer to believe the product was composed entirely of natural ingredients.
It also said the ad made no claims about whether the chemical ingredients were man-made or natural.
Endorsed yet denied
Broadcasting body Clearcast endorsed Colgate’s response stating that it believed the ad did not imply that the product contained no chemical ingredients and was therefore not likely to mislead.
However, ASA disagreed and understood that the advertised products contained man-made chemical ingredients, concluding that the ad was misleading and breached the Code.
“Because the ad implied that the Sanex Zero per cent range contained only those ingredients which were essential for clean and healthy skin and because two of the products within the Sanex Zero per cent range contained parfum, which we considered to be non-essential for clean and healthy skin, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead consumers and therefore breached the Code,” said an ASA statement.