The UK watchdog took action after an advert on the Rodial website promoted a product called ‘Body Sculpture’ which stated “A cult classic, body sculpture is an intensive gel that is formulated to help moisturize skin in problem areas.”
Alongside an e-mail entitled ‘Forget the Facelift’ which stated “Sculpt and firm your jawline, without the need for surgery with these easy steps.”
An ASA spokesperson told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com; “Yes, the ASA has ruled against an ad by Rodial for its ‘body sculpture’ gel, we have found them in breach of the Advertising Code.”
“A complainant challenged whether the ads misleadingly implied that the products were as effective as surgery”.
Stretching the truth
According to the ASA, Rodial said the website description of ‘body sculpture’ simply described the product as “a gel that is formulated to help moisturize skin in problem areas”.
Whilst adding; “to suggest that the description implied the product was as effective as surgery was stretching the English language to a large degree.”
“We noted that Rodial believed the name ‘Forget the facelift’ was being used as a trademark”, says the ASA spokesperson.
“However, we had not seen supporting evidence to show that the name was trademarked. We had also not seen evidence that the product could work as the name implied.”
Furthermore, “we considered that the name "body sculpture" implied the product would have an impact on a user's body shape.”
As ASA decided that the evidence they were presented with did not show the product could do so, it concluded the adverts were misleading and must not appear again in their current form.
Previous reprimands
The ASA has previously challenged whether claims were misleading and could be substantiated on other Rodial products in the last year.
Product information and testimonials on the brand’s website for ‘Glamtox Sticks’, ‘Glamoxy Snake Serum’, ‘Chin & Neck lift’, ‘Boob Job’ and ‘Tummy Tuck Sticks’ products were found to mislead consumers.
On their website, Rodial describes itself as a skincare line that “is dermatologically tested and is recommended by dermatologists and plastic surgeons in the UK.”
CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com approached Rodial representatives but found they were unable to comment at the time of publishing.