ASA Adjudication on IntraMed Ltd

Ad

A national press ad, for Titanium Stockings from IntraMed, was headlined "NEW! Comfortable legs are yours with TITANIUM POWER Help your legs feel years younger!" Text continued "DISCOVER THE MIRACLE OF TITANIUM WEAVE TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP TO: Relieve Painful Leg Fatigue Increase Circulation Relax Tight Muscles Soothe Ankle Pain Relieve Aching Sensitive Toes … The ultra lightweight smooth material is made from nylon and spandex interwoven with miraculous Titanium … The SPANDEX ensures ONE SIZE FITS ALL. These stockings can help to increase the temperature in your calves and feet, then miraculously ‘reflect’ that heat back into your legs. This helps to improve blood circulation which in turn may relieve painful leg fatigue ... Especially suitable if you have to sit or stand for long periods during the day or if you suffer from varicose veins ...".

Issue

Two complainants challenged whether IntraMed could substantiate the efficacy claims for the stockings, in particular the claims that the product could help to increase circulation and increase the temperature in calves and feet, then reflect that heat back into the legs.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

IntraMed said the stockings helped retain heat in the feet and calves by trapping air between the skin and the stocking; the air was naturally warmed by body heat and, because it was trapped by the fibres, the warm air was sent back to the feet and lower part of the legs.  They stressed that any covering to the skin that trapped air in its fibres would warm the body.  They said the addition of titanium to the material improved the heat retention and sent reports, translated from Japanese, of infra-red, anti-germ and anion testing on the titanium used in the stockings.

IntraMed said it was widely accepted that heat could relieve pain and increase blood flow.  They sent references to several online articles which, they said, supported that position.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA understood that the claim "These stockings can help to increase the temperature in your calves and feet" merely referred to the fact that someone wearing stockings would have warmer legs than if their legs were bare, and was therefore unlikely to mislead.  However, we considered the second part of the claim - "then miraculously 'reflect' that heat back into the legs" - suggested that the stockings would have a more dramatic physiological effect than merely warming the legs as normal socks or stockings did, and we had seen no evidence of such an effect.

IntraMed had firstly pointed out that the stockings would make legs warmer, and secondly argued that increased heat improved circulation and reduced pain.  However, we had not seen evidence to show that the advertised stockings would provide enough warmth to increase circulation and provide pain relief, or exactly how that would work in practice.  We considered that IntraMed had not adequately demonstrated how their stockings were any different from normal stockings, which also made legs warmer but could not claim to increase circulation or provide pain relief.  We noted IntraMed did not hold any studies specifically on the advertised titanium stockings to demonstrate their effects on people who wore them, and considered such evidence would be necessary to substantiate the ad's efficacy claims.

As the stockings came in one size only, we considered the compression might not be consistent across different calf and leg sizes. In light of that, IntraMed had not demonstrated that the stockings would be able to help everyone suffering from any of the listed conditions and complaints, for example varicose veins and tight muscles, as the ad implied.

We were also concerned that IntraMed had not answered our question about why the ad had appeared after they had given an assurance to CAP that they were no longer advertising in the UK.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 50.1 (Health & beauty products and therapies - General).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)