Body wraps as a product have grown in popularity in the last few years at salons and spas and can take many forms, and involves consumers being wrapped in various different ingredients and products, such as seaweed.
The Body Wraps Berkshire product, manufactured by It Works! Global advertised its products on Facebook with images of a woman with a baby, her stomach and hip area, which stated ‘Before wrap’ and a photo of her slimmer stomach and hip area which stated ‘After 8 wraps’.
Text underneath included ‘#nosurgery … #getinshape … #toneup … #slimming’, as well as stating: ‘For All Those Who Don’t Believe Read Her Testimonial’.
A complainant challenged whether the photos misleadingly exaggerated the efficacy of the wraps, and the Advertising Standards Authority agreed, stating that consumers may believe that the images were a genuine representation of product use, although investigation uncovered that there were numerous lifestyle changes that also played their part.
Evidence?
When questioned on the complaint, Body Wraps Berkshire provided the name, telephone number and address of the woman in the photo, and provided proof of communication which showed that the images in the testimonial, along with other images that appeared to have been taken between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos, had been sent to them by her.
It also provided an email, in which the woman explained that she had changed her diet, drank two litres of water per day and went to the gym twice weekly in addition to having used the wraps once every week.
Body Wraps Berkshire said it had removed the images and testimonial from its Facebook page, and product manufacturer, It Works! Global, also responded saying the results were intended to be cosmetic only.
While the ASA acknowledges that the advertiser had removed the ‘before’ and ‘after’ images from its Facebook page after being unable to provide weight loss evidence, it said it was still concerned that other images also implied that weight loss could be achieved.
“Because of that lack of evidence, and because the woman’s experience had also involved wider changes, such as a healthy diet and exercise, we considered the advertiser had not demonstrated that the testimonial was a genuine representation of results that could be achieved using the product alone. We therefore concluded that it was misleading,” said the watchdog’s statement.
“The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Body Wraps Berkshire to ensure that ads did not suggest that weight loss could be achieved in the absence of substantiation.”