The ASA rulings follow a complaint by consumer activist Dr Harris Steinman against a commercial claiming the gel allowed users to "say goodbye to cellulite", and that one of the ingredients, L-carnitine, was "your skin's own fat burner".

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Steinman said there was no evidence that L-carnitine was absorbed through the skin.

The body ruled in January this year that the claim was unsubstantiated, and ordered manufacturer Beiersdorf Consumer Products Nivea to stop making the claim. Beiersdorf subsequently submitted what it said was substantiation.

However in a second ruling, issued this week, the ASA said Beiersdorf's new "research" was merely a market survey, aimed at learning "how consumers perceive the improvement of their skin after two, four and eight weeks of application".

The advert, on the other hand, created the impression that the product had been scientifically tested in a controlled environment. "Such research does not suffice in the current situation," the ASA said. - (Sapa)

April 2008

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Hoodia claim withdrawn

 

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