ASA deflates breast cream claims

The marketers of a herbal cream that supposedly enlarges women's breasts have been taken to task by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). 

Following a complaint by consumer rights activist Dr Harris Steinman, LifeCode cc has agreed to withdraw claims that its product, Breast Assured, has been clinically tested. 

According to the ASA, LifeCode claimed on a website that the cream was a blend of "herbs and plant extracts" that had been proven to increase a woman's breast size by stimulating natural new  breast cell growth. 

"The main ingredient has been used and researched in Thailand for many years with good results," the site said. "The active ingredients go directly to the desired enlargement areas via our advanced micro-abrasive transdermal delivery system, thus delivering more effective and faster results." 

What the ASA ruled

LifeCode told the ASA in response to Steinman's complaint that the website would likely be discovered only by people who believed in alternative medicine, and that it was therefore not appropriate to label the content as misleading. 

The ASA said in a ruling released on Friday that while it accepted that the product might be aimed at a specific market, it had never adopted a "they believe it so it must be true" approach. 

"The claims objected to by the complainant are clearly capable of objective verification... and as such should be held to the same criteria as any other advertising making efficacy claims," it said. - (Sapa, April 2010)