ASA Adjudication on The Conair Group Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for an electric shaver, showed a man examining his long stubble in front of a bathroom mirror. The voice-over said "Get your stubble just right, with the I-trim from BaByliss for men". The man was shown decreasing the desired hair length, on the product's digital display, from 6 mm to 3.5 mm and then shaving with it. The voice-over continued "Its unique motorised length selector has 30 precise settings half a millimetre apart, for absolute precision. So you can have total control of your stubble". A woman then entered the room and stroked his beard before taking the shaver and reducing the digital display from 2.5 mm to 1.0 mm and passing it back to the man. The voice-over said "well, not total control" as the man continued to shave on the new setting. The final screen of the ad showed the shaver on a setting of 0.5 mm while the voice-over said "I-trim from BaByliss for men, now with quick charge and shaver head".

Issue

The complainant objected that the ad was misleading because he believed that the product could not trim facial stubble down to the suggested 0.5mm.

BCAP TV Code

Response

The Conair Group Ltd (Conair) said the length setting of the product, as displayed on the LCD screen, was determined by the distance of the outer edge of the comb guide to the cutting blade, with an allowance made for variables that affected the cutting length when in normal use, namely the flexibility of the comb guide and the supple nature of skin.  They explained that the distance settings were in 0.5 mm increments, starting at 15 mm and decreasing to a minimum of just over 0.5 mm.  They provided photographic evidence showing the comb and the blade on its lowest setting, using a ruler to illustrate the distance.  They said they believed that the settings displayed on the product were correct and reflected the achievable length in normal use.  They argued that, as with all grooming products, the achievable results depended on a number of factors including the tautness of skin, the angle at which the product was applied, the amount of pressure being applied and the speed at which the product was used.  They also said the comb guide could be removed in order to get the shortest possible length.

Clearcast said they were satisfied with the evidence supplied by Conair and that an information leaflet that accompanied the product stated the 0.5 mm setting would result in "close stubble".

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA considered that most viewers would interpret the ad as a claim that the I-trim had a large number of settings which allowed users to control the length of their facial hair in gradations from a full beard down to very close stubble.  We noted the setting of the 0.5mm related to the distance between the guide and cutting blade and considered that viewers were unlikely to interpret the reference to the 0.5 mm setting in the final frame as an absolute claim that all users would achieve stubble of that length. We concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead.

We considered the ad under CAP (TV) Advertising Code rules 5.1.1, 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 (Misleading advertising) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No action necessary

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)