ASA Adjudication on TV Shop Broadcasting Ltd

Ad

An infomercial for Zumba dance system appeared on TV Shop. The infomercial showed women dancing. They all had sticks in their hands and were moving to a beat. An electronic salsa rhythm played in the background. Stacey Keibler said: “When you start Zumba you’re gonna see the pounds melt away. You’ll be burning calories, burning fat, you’re just gonna see your waist getting smaller, getting tighter. Your body’s just gonna get more toned and you’ll just be very happy with the results”. Stacey Keibler stated in an on-screen testimonial: “It’s fun, you don’t feel like you’re getting a workout, you feel like you’re just having fun and you’re dancing to the music. I really like the Salsa. Doing the figure eights and really working your obliques and moving your hips in a figure eight. You’re actually burning more calories, you’re toning your muscles and it’s just a blast. When you start Zumba you’re gonna see the pounds melt away. You’ll be burning calories, burning fat, you’re just gonna see your waist getting smaller, your butt is gonna get toned. Look at it as fun and just do it a couple of times a week. You’ll see results.” On-screen text stated “Flatten & tone abs with no crunches!” and “Burn fat, lose weight and shape & tone”. The voice-over stated: “Here’s your chance to experience this incredible fat-melting, body-shaping workout risk-free for 30 days … With the toning sticks you can burn fat more efficiently and accelerate toning in your upper body, all while you’re dancing”. A man said “My wife Joan, she’s the one who discovered it on the infomercial. Before, she was just kinda depressed and then all of a sudden she found Zumba and it’s like her whole body, her whole mood, her mental attitude just changed. Zumba has just changed her life”. Joan stated “As soon as I started Zumba I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it. Before I started Zumba I weighed about 155 lbs; after doing Zumba, about 133 lbs. I noticed body changes immediately. I noticed it on the waistline very quickly; it tones as well as burns calories. If I can do Zumba anybody can do Zumba”. Another woman added: “By doing Zumba I was able to lose 54 lbs. I went from a size 16 to a size 6 and I feel great. Zumba completely transformed my body”. Small on-screen text stated “Weight loss only in conjunction with a calorie controlled diet and exercise plan”. A final on-screen testimonial stated “I have been battling weight issues for almost 20 years and when I got introduced to Zumba my weight just gradually started to fall. I have lost 45 lbs. I have dropped three dress sizes and it’s just allowed me to maintain a healthy weight over a long period of time which I’ve never been able to do before.” A voice-over stated “So stop exercising and join the party and watch the pounds and inches melt away right before your eyes with Zumba. Ordinary workouts are boring and tedious and they only make you want to do one thing - quit. But now there’s a new way to lose weight, shed the fat and achieve the lean, sexy body you’ve always wanted and best of all its actually fun. Presenting Zumba, the revolutionary dance- inspired total-body, fat-burning and muscle-sculpting workout that never feels like work because it’s so much fun. Yet it’s so effective an independent university study proved Zumba burns calories at a rate as high as 1000 calories an hour. Order the Zumba fitness system and you could be a whole jean size smaller with our size away challenge. The secret is a revolutionary training technique called Rhythm Progression. Every move targets your lower body, your abs and core and upper body to deliver a three-zone fat-melting routine. Best of all, rhythm progression makes Zumba fast and easy to learn so you’re burning fat and calories right from the beginning. Simply follow the Zumba fitness system and accelerating fat-loss plan and if you don’t lose up to one whole jean size simply return it for a full refund of the purchase price … The Zumba 20-Minute Express Routine puts your new moves through a fun and complete workout for when you’re tight on time or you want to burn fat and calories fast … Beto guides you through a complete tour of red hot Zumba rhythms and fat-melting moves that’ll have you dancing the pounds away. Finally, in Sculpt and Tone, Beto makes target toning fun so you can accelerate results in all those difficult problem areas … Plus order now and we’ll include the Zumba Accelerated Fat Loss Plan so you can shed the fat fast and lose a whole jean size with our size-away challenge. We’ll even include the bonus Zumba Flat Abs, Beto’s fun standing ab routine so you can get the flat, ripped, six-pack abs you’ve always wanted without getting on the floor to do old-fashion crunches ... And, finally, you’ll receive Beto’s free Zumba toning sticks boosting Zumba into a red-hot, fat-burning party. These light hand-weights help burn more calories and shape and sculpt your body even faster …"

Issue

Monitoring staff challenged whether the Zumba system would:

1. burn calories at a rate as high as 1000 calories an hour;

2. melt pounds, fat and inches away;

3. burn fat and calories fast and change the body immediately;

4. help people with depression.

Monitoring staff also challenged whether:

5. using the toning sticks in conjunction with Zumba meant users would burn fat more efficiently and sculpt and shape the body faster;

6. the references to weight loss complied with rule 8.4.3.

BCAP TV Code

Response

1. 2. & 3. TV Shop Broadcasting Ltd (TV Shop) submitted a report entitled "Heart rate and metabolic analysis of Zumba Workouts" by Eric Sternleicht Phd.  The report explained that the three healthy subjects (two men and one woman) participated in selected segments of the Zumba Sculpt and Tone and Cardio Party workouts.  

The report stated that all subjects were free of acute or chronic injury before the study, were instructed how to perform each Zumba sequence and had between two and 20 years experience of performing Zumba.  The report noted that all the subjects were monitored for their heart rate, ventilation, respiratory quotient, oxygen consumption and metabolic responses.  Metabolic, heart rate, and gas analysis was measured using a VO2 system analyser.  The report noted that each subject wore a disposable mask and breathed through a hose to a CO2 gas analyser.  The data were analysed to determine calorie expenditure values during each Zumba workout and the subjects heart rate response and calorie expenditure values were compared with those resulting from other forms of exercise.

The report concluded that the heart rate data collected verified that the workouts were effective at eliciting a heart rate response suitable for cardiovascular conditioning and calorie expenditure necessary for burning fat.  The report stated that the calorie expenditure (expressed as mean and standard deviation) for the Zumba sculpt and tone workout without Zumba sticks was 467.4 +/-152.2 kcal/h, for the Zumba sculpt and tone workout with Zumba sticks was 710.5 +/-228.0 kcal/h and for the Zumba Cardio Party was 783.3 +/- 252.3 kcal/h.  The report noted that those results varied because of each participants body weight and the selected intensity each participant chose to exert during the workout.

The report stated that the average exercise intensity based on the heart rate response of the three subjects tested, proved that the Zumba Sculpt and Tone workout with Zumba sticks and the Zumba Cardio party workout were moderate to high intensity workouts.

4.  TV Shop stated that they did not intend to suggest that Zumba was a treatment for clinical depression but rather that it created an enhanced feeling of well-being for individuals who used the Zumba system.  

5.  TV Shop explained that the hand weights weighed 455 g each.  They believed it was widely accepted that, within a normal training regime, using weights to exercise with would lead to an increase in the rate at which calories were consumed.  Also, if the subject was following a calorie controlled diet, as the disclaimer suggested, the subject would expend more energy than they consumed and therefore lose weight faster.  

6.  TV Shop acknowledged that the advertisement did not state the period over which the weight was lost by certain individuals.  They confirmed that that was an inadvertent error and would be corrected for future advertisements.

Assessment

1.  Upheld

The ASA consulted an expert, who advised that a mask gas analysis system to measure metabolic rate was unsuitable and a hooded system would have produced more accurate results.  The expert advised that the ability to maintain a high workout rate would depend on the participants level of fitness.  We noted the study had assessed the participants in a 20-minute exercise session and the results from the session had been multiplied to give an hourly calorie expenditure rate.  We considered that using the calorie expenditure from a 20-minute exercise session and then multiplying it up to give an hourly rate was misleading because the calorie expenditure rate would decrease as the participants tired.  The expert noted the programme was targeted at people who wanted to lose weight or get fit and advised that it was doubtful that they would be able to work at the required exercise intensity to achieve the rate of 1000 calories an hour.  

We considered that the sample size of three people was too small to produce statistically significant results.  We concluded that, in the absence of a statistically significant study demonstrating that unfit and overweight consumers could burn as much as 1000 calories an hour, the claim was misleading.  

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.1 (Evidence).

2. & 3. Upheld

We considered that the claims implied immediate dramatic results.  We considered that the ability to maintain a high workout rate and burn and or melt fat would initially depend on the participants level of fitness.  We considered that the ad was targeted at consumers who wanted to get fit and lose weight and we believed they would not be able to sustain the level of exercise intensity required to achieve such dramatic results.  Furthermore, the evidence submitted did not demonstrate that weight loss had been achieved by the participants or that it had been achieved instantly and caused immediate changes in body shape.   We concluded that the claims were misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.1 (Evidence).

4.  Upheld

We considered that the testimonial that stated "My wife Joan ... before she was just kinda depressed and then all of a sudden she found Zumba and its like her whole body, her whole mood, her mental attitude just changed.  Zumba has just changed her life" implied that Zumba could help people suffering from depression.  We noted the evidence did not include any psychological measurements of the subjects who participated in the study.  Although the exercise produced a sense of well-being, we considered that the reference to depression and the claim that Zumba had changed Joans mental attitude and her whole mood and her life went beyond a mere sense of well-being.  We noted TV Shop did not submit evidence to demonstrate that the workout was effective at treating depression.  We considered that the claim was misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 8.4.2 (a) (Requirement for medical advice) and 5.2.1 (Evidence).

5.  Upheld

We considered that using the sticks would produce a benefit that resulted from the arms being actively involved in the workout.  We nevertheless considered that the sample size was too small for the results to be statistically significant and that the results of the calorie expenditure, which were derived from the mask gas analysis, were inadequate evidence.  We considered that the evidence did not demonstrate that using the toning sticks would burn fat more efficiently and sculpt and shape the body faster.  We considered that the claim was misleading.  

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.1 (Evidence).

6. Upheld

We welcomed TV Shops offer to include the period over which the weight loss was achieved in future advertisements.   We nevertheless considered that the ad had breached the Code by referring to specific amounts of weight that had been lost by individuals and by not stating the period over which that loss was achieved.  

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 8.4.3 (Predictions of weight loss).

Action

We concluded that the ad must not be broadcast again in its present form and that the product should not be advertised without adequate substantiation for the claims made for it.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)