Ad description
A website ad visited on 7 September 2011, promoted hair colouring products. Text stated "... Organic based permanent hair colouring? Think NATULIQUE SIMPLY COLOURS. The most natural high performance professional permanent hair colour in the world and 100% ammonia free. No ammonia, no smell, no discomfort, lots of shine and 100% white hair coverage ...".
Issue
Herb UK Ltd challenged whether the claim "The most natural high performance professional permanent hair colour in the world" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Natulique said they were part of a very small group of companies that had taken the responsible step of manufacturing ethical, gentle and natural brands relative to the rest of the professional hair industry, who they said largely ignored ethical manufacturing processes.
Natulique said it was important for them to highlight the expense they had gone to in order to manufacture their products in an ethical way. They said they only sold their products to professional hairdressers, and that all salons were able to receive free education and an interactive demonstration before purchasing, to ensure they made an informed decision as to the benefits and effectiveness of their products.
Natulique said they would amend their advertising to state "Probably the most natural high performance professional permanent hair colour in the world".
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted Natulique's statement that they were willing to amend their advertising to state "probably the most" rather than "the most", but considered we had not seen any evidence for the performance of Natulique's hair colour products, and therefore could not verify whether any claim for the product's performance was acceptable. Because of that we considered the claim had not been substantiated and concluded the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form.
