ASA Adjudication on Advanced Hair Studio

Ad

A national press ad, for Advanced Hair Studio (AHS), was headlined " 'ADVANCED HAIR, YEAH, YEAH!' Says cricket legend, Shane Warne". Next to a picture of Shane Warne the ad stated "Shane Warne uses the Advance Hair and Scalp fitness program AHS-FP". The ad featured a testimonial from Warne, which stated "I've been hearing it for years but to me I've always taken it as 'warning'. And that warning is - if I didn't do something about my fine and thin hair they could well be chanting 'baldy!' So see Advanced Hair Studio … and your hair will be looking better than ever. Don't wait until it's too late, get your FREE ADVANCED HAIR CHECK! and heed the Warne-ing today!"

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that:

1. AHS-FP could reduce or reverse hair loss.

2. Shane Warne, who he believed had had a treatment that involved Minoxidil, had used only AHS-FP to treat his 'fine and thin hair' and ensure that the crowd had no reason to chant baldy.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

AHS said the ad made no claims that AHS-FP could re-grow hair and believed the complainant had confused the programs they offered, because AHS-FP was a treatment only for "fine and thinning hair". They said, in light of previous ASA adjudications, they had changed Shane Warne's treatment from Advanced Laser Therapy (ALT), which involved Minoxidil, to AHS-FP, which involved lasers not Minoxidil. Because they considered that the ad made no claims that AHS-FP could re-grow hair, they believed that it was not necessary for them to forward substantiation to support such a claim. They nevertheless pointed out that since their ad had appeared, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved a laser comb for hair re-growth. AHS believed their laser was technically superior to the FDA approved laser comb and said they might be in a position to substantiate re-growth claims for AHS-FP in the future.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted AHS's assertion that the ad did not claim that AHS-FP could re-grow hair but considered that the claim "if I didn't do something about my fine and thin hair they could well be chanting 'baldy'! So see Advanced Hair Studio ... and your hair will be looking better than ever. Don't wait until it's too late" could be seen by readers to go beyond a claim that the treatment merely improved the appearance of hair; readers could infer that the AHS-FP had resulted in the slowing down or stopping of hair loss and/or the re-growth of Warne's hair. We noted AHS had sent no evidence to show that AHS-FP could stop or reverse hair loss, as we considered the claims in the ad implied. Because of that, we concluded that the claims were likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 50.15 (Medicines) and 50.26 (Hair and scalp).

2. Upheld

We noted AHS's assurance that they had complied with the previous ASA adjudication, which instructed them to remove all references to ALT in ads that featured Shane Warne because ALT involved Minoxidil, a medicine, and the CAP Code stated that marketers should not use celebrities to endorse medicines. We noted the ad stated "Shane Warne uses the Advanced Hair and Scalp Fitness program". We noted AHS-FP did not involve Minoxidil and AHS had sent no evidence to show that AHS-FP could stop or reverse hair loss, as we considered the claims in the ad implied. We considered that Minoxidil was the only treatment Warne had undergone that could help to stop or reverse hair loss. Because the ad suggested it was AHS-FP that had stopped or reversed Warne's hairloss, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 50.15 (Medicines) and 50.26 (Hair and scalp).

Action

We told AHS to avoid implying in future ads that AHS-FP could prevent or reverse hair loss or that Shane Warne had undergone treatment for hair loss. If Shane Warne was used in future ads for AHS-FP, the ad should do no more than suggest that the advertised treatment had a cosmetic effect.

We noted we had upheld complaints against AHS' non-broadcast ads on five occasions in the past five years and told them to seek advice from the CAP Copy Advice team on all their future ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)