ASA Adjudication on Fitalifestyle Ltd

Ad

An ad for Liquid Chlorophyll, in the online shop of the See My Cells website, seen 16 March 2011, stated “Liquid Chlorophyll is the most potent blood cleanser and deodorizer. Liquid Chlorophyll has the identical chemical structure to haemoglobin in blood. The only difference being the central atom in blood being iron and Chlorophyll's central atom being magnesium. Chlorophyll is made by the process of photosynthesis and is essential to life. Chlorophyll in liquid form is essential for creating healthy alkaline blood. Everyone should consume at least 20ml per day to ensure perfect health. How to take it: All you need to do is put 10ml of Chlorophyll into a measuring cup which is supplied with it. Add your Chlorophyll to 250ml of water(small glass) and drink. You need to do this twice a day!!”.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the claims:

1. "Chlorophyll is the most potent blood cleanser and deodorizer";

2. "Liquid Chlorophyll has the identical chemical structure to haemoglobin in blood. The only difference being the central atom in blood being iron and Chlorophyll's central atom being magnesium"; and

3. "Everyone should consume at least 20ml per day to ensure perfect health

were misleading and could be substantiated.

4. The ASA challenged whether the ad made a medicinal claim for an unlicensed product.

Response

1. - 4. Fitalifestyle Ltd did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.

Assessment

1. - 4. Upheld

The ASA was concerned by Fitalifestyle's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.

We noted that Fitalifestyle had not provided evidence in support of the efficacy claims for Liquid Chlorophyll in the ad. We considered that the claims such as "Chlorophyll is the most potent blood cleanser and deodorizer" and "Everyone should consume at least 20ml per day to ensure perfect health" implied that the product had proven health benefits and could be used to treat blood and circulation problems. We noted that we had not seen documentation that showed that the product had the relevant marketing authorisation to make those claims.

Because we considered that the ad made medicinal claims for an unlicensed product, we concluded that it was in breach of the Code.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.7 (Unreasonable delay), 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 12.1, 12.2 and 12.11 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We referred the matter to CAPs Compliance team.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)