ASA Adjudication on Ideal Shopping Direct plc

Ad

An infomercial on Ideal Vitality for their 'pick of the week' advertised Proto-Col Collagen Capsules (3x90 bottles) and Proto-Col Silk Firming Serum for £49.99 plus £5.90 UK postage and packaging. It opened with the presenter, Martyn Parker, and the promoter, James, describing the basic function of collagen. James said that collagen was "the primary structural protein found within the body ... the glue that is physically holding our body together". That claim was repeated throughout the ad. Martyn described the product as "pure collagen in a capsule".

James described how he had developed Proto-Col Collagen capsules. He said his background was in nutritional training and that he was a former professional athlete who had competed for Great Britain in the modern pentathlon. James explained that he had sustained a serious achilles heel injury whilst training, and had been told by his physiologist that there would be a 14-week recovery period until he could walk again. James stated that the medical consensus was that he needed glue in the body, and so he had "sourced the raw material, which is pure collagen, which is exactly what you see here today in the capsules". Martyn reiterated that James' specialists and advisors had identified that the injury was to do with the structural glue of the body. James said "[I] started to introduce collagen into my nutritional programme, which to be fair was very very good ... and other than that I rested". Martyn clarified "you sourced this collagen and were ingesting it in powdered form as part of your nutritional diet". James then described how he went on his first run after 22 days of starting on the programme, "four times faster than the physiologist and specialist team ... had predicted".

Martyn said "so you were in effect adding collagen to the levels of collagen that were already in your body ... It's in your tendons. What you were doing was adding collagen by taking these". James stated "I was eating collagen". Martyn said "you feel, and this is your experience, that this increased your level of recuperation" and James responded "that's effectively what I noticed". Martyn asked James if he had noticed any other effects from taking the collagen. James said "my complexion, which when I was competing was shocking, continued to improve and improve ... and continued to improve when I went back to training". Martyn then stated that "everyone's results are different" after taking Proto-Col Collagen capsules. James said that collagen was in our hair, skin and nails, and "we know it's good for ligaments, tendons, cartilage".

James said his formulation was the only one in the UK and the world that had a blend of the two types of collagen found in skin tissue and internally. He repeated claims that the benefit of collagen was for "hair, skin, nails and throughout the body".

Telephone calls to the studio from previous transmissions were shown at other points in the ad. One caller said "I wanted to see basically if they worked, and they do. People tell me I look radiant". A different caller said "we are on it for life, both of us. We are so convinced. It is fantastic". Another caller said "It's just amazing. It works ... I'm very impressed".

Issue

One viewer challenged whether:

1. the ad implied that the ingestion of collagen could accelerate recuperation from injury. He believed that when ingested the collagen would be broken down into its constituent parts, and would not necessarily aid healing.

The ASA challenged whether:

2. ingesting the product could improve one's complexion; and

3. ingesting the product could be beneficial to joint health.

BCAP TV Code

Response

1. Ideal Shopping Direct plc (Ideal) said that, throughout the hour-long ad, neither Martyn nor James had stated that ingesting collagen could accelerate recuperation from injury. Ideal said they had been careful to ensure that James only talked about his own experience. Ideal pointed out that James described how he had followed a four-part regime that included a nutritional programme, physiotherapy and rest, as well as taking collagen supplements. They argued that the fact James was back in training quicker than anyone had expected could be because of all or any of the elements of that regime.

2. Ideal said there were two points in the ad where James mentioned that the problems he had had with his complexion, caused by wearing a fencing mask, had cleared up around the time he was taking collagen. They said they did not claim that collagen would improve one's complexion, and pointed out that Martyn had added a disclaimer to make this clear.

3. Ideal said that, as collagen was a naturally occurring substance that positively benefited the body, the claim "we know it's good for ligaments, tendons and cartilage", was not misleading. Ideal argued that at no point in the presentation did James claim that ingesting collagen could be beneficial to joint health.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted the ad did not directly state that ingesting collagen could accelerate recuperation from injury. Nevertheless, we considered that the repeated references to collagen as "the primary structural protein found within the body ... the glue that is physically holding our body together", alongside James' statement that his specialists had identified that his injury was related to the structural glue of the body, heavily implied a direct link between ingesting collagen and accelerated recuperation. We also considered that this link was reinforced by Martyn's statement "You sourced collagen and were ingesting it in powdered form as part of your nutritional programme", followed by James' description of how he was running again "four times faster than the physiologist and specialist team ... had predicted".

Although we acknowledged that Martyn said everyone's recovery time would be different, and that James also talked about his personal four-point recovery programme, we considered that Martyn's statement "You feel, and this is your experience, that [eating collagen] increased your level of recuperation" and James' response "that's effectively what I noticed" implied that the collagen was responsible for James' fast recuperation. Because Ideal had not provided evidence that proved the efficacy of orally ingested collagen in aiding recuperation from injury, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence), 5.2.2 (Implications) and 8.3.1 (Accuracy in food advertising).

2. Upheld

We noted Ideal's argument that they did not directly claim that collagen could improve the complexion. We also noted their point that Martyn had added the disclaimer "everyone's results are different". However, we considered that Martyn's direct question to James, regarding whether he had noticed any other effects from taking the collagen, and James' response "my complexion ... continued to improve and improve ... and continued to improve when I went back to training" implied that the collagen had a long-term, beneficial effect on the complexion. Because Ideal had not provided evidence that proved the efficacy of orally ingested collagen for improving the complexion, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence), 5.2.2 (Implications) and 8.3.1 (Accuracy in food advertising).

3. Upheld

We noted Ideal's argument that collagen was naturally occurring in the body, and that the ad did not directly claim that collagen was beneficial for joint health. We considered, however, that the statement "we know it's good for ligaments, tendons, cartilage", alongside the repeated claims that collagen was "the primary structural protein in the body", inferred that collagen would benefit joint health. We also considered that James' claim that Proto-Col Collagen was the only formulation in the world to include the two types of collagen, found in skin tissue and internally, suggested that Proto-Col Collagen would benefit both the complexion and joint health. Because Ideal had not provided evidence that proved the efficacy of orally ingested collagen for the health of the joints, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence), 5.2.2 (Implications) and 8.3.1 (Accuracy in food advertising).

Action

We told Ideal not to show the ad again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)