ASA Adjudication on IntraMed Ltd

Ad

A magazine ad, for 'Day & Night' slimming supplement, had headline text that stated "NEW CLINICALLY PROVEN SLIMMING SUPPLEMENT LAUNCHED IN THE UK 'If I can lose weight with Day & Night anyone can'...". Text underneath stated "Day & Night is the new 'double action' weight loss programme that uses two proven ingredients to block and remove fat during the day and burn fat and excess calories at night - while you sleep! ... CLINICALLY PROVEN TO WORK Regulated clinical trials were carried out by the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Catania, Italy. The results after eight weeks were incredible: 100% of participants lost weight; Weight loss up to 16lb (7Kg) after only 8 weeks; Female participants saw a significant reduction in weight in 8 weeks; Average weight loss for women 9.5lb (4.3Kg); Average weight loss for men 7.4lb (3.4Kg); Even those with only a little weight to lose lost weight". The "CLINICALLY PROVEN" claim was repeated throughout the ad.

The ad featured testimonials, including before and after photos, from three customers. The first, from Anna, stated "I lost over 30 kilos! ... Day & Night made it so easy". The second, from Frank, stated "I'm now 31 kilos lighter ... Thanks to Day & Night I went from 19 stone to 12 stone ... In the first month I lost over 17lbs without even trying - I didn't change my diet or start counting calories. That was just Day & Night burning fat ... If I can lose weight with Day & Night anyone can". The final testimonial, from Simone, stated "I needed to lose weight but couldn't get motivated. With Day & Night weight loss was so easy. It's amazing ... I've lost nearly 2 stone and set myself a target of losing 10lbs more".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether:

1. the claims "CLINICALLY PROVEN" and "CLINICALLY PROVEN TO WORK" were misleading and could be substantiated, and

2. the efficacy claims for the product could be substantiated.

The ASA challenged whether:

3. the testimonials were genuine;

4. the ad offered an unsupervised treatment for obesity;

5. the ad misleadingly implied that the product was guaranteed to work in all cases;

6. the ad misleadingly implied that dieters could eat as much as they liked and still lose weight, and

7. the ad was irresponsible, because it advocated weight loss at a rate that was incompatible with good medical and nutritional practice.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

IntraMed Ltd (IntraMed) said the ad had appeared in error and would not be used again.

Assessment

1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6 & 7. Upheld

The ASA noted IntraMed's response, but considered that greater care should have been taken to prevent the ad from appearing. We noted that we had not seen evidence to support the efficacy claims made in the ad, or that showed that the testimonials were genuine. We considered that the claims "100% of participants lost weight", "If I can lose weight ... anyone can" and "Even those with only a little weight to lose lost weight" implied that the product was guaranteed to work in all cases, and we noted that we had also not seen evidence that that was the case. We therefore considered that those claims had not been substantiated.

We considered that the statement in Frank's testimonial "I didn't change my diet or count calories" implied that dieters could eat as much as they liked and still lose weight, and that through the references to the loss of 31 kilos by Frank and 30 kilos by Anna the ad offered an unsupervised treatment for obesity. Moreover, we were concerned that the ad advocated a rate of weight loss that was contrary to good medical advice and nutritional practice, and we considered that for that reason also the ad was unacceptable.

We concluded that the ad was irresponsible and misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2. (Social responsibility), 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness), 51.1, 51.2, 51.4, 51.8 and 51.10 (Weight loss).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We reminded IntraMed again of the need to hold robust substantiation for efficacy claims made in its advertising.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)