Background
Summary of Council decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A paid-for Facebook ad for DYLN Lifestyle, seen in June 2017, promoted their water bottle product and included text which stated, “Everyone knows that drinking alkalized water is important -- this is the first water bottle to TRANSFORM your water into Alkaline Antioxidant Water, in only minutes and with zero waste! The Bottle That Creates Living Alkaline Water”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:
1. “Everyone knows that drinking alkalized water is important”;
2. “TRANSFORM your water into Alkaline Antioxidant Water”; and
3. “The Bottle That Creates Living Alkaline Water”.
Response
1., 2. & 3. DYLN Lifestyle LLC t/a DYLN provided two documents in support of the claims. One document was a report from an independent testing facility and the other was a two-page document which included a table of results. They said the testing demonstrated Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) testing had been conducted, which they understood was a common testing method for water. They said, according to Hanna Instruments, ORP was a measurement that showed a substance’s ability to oxidize or reduce another substance. They said a positive ORP reading indicated that a substance was an oxidizing agent and a negative ORP reading indicated that a substance was a reducing agent. They said since their product reduced water to a negative level it was no longer oxidizing and was anti-oxidant according to the testing method. They did not provide further explanation for, or information to support, the use of the claims.
Assessment
1., 2. & 3. Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claim “Everyone knows that drinking alkalized water is important” to mean that drinking alkalised water was beneficial to overall good health and health-related wellbeing. We considered the claim “this is the first water bottle to TRANSFORM your water into Alkaline Antioxidant Water” to mean the device not only alkalised water but also introduced antioxidant properties to the water. We also considered the claim “The Bottle That Creates Living Alkaline Water” to mean that when water was added to the bottle it also added something to the water to give it a “living” quality.
We considered the evidence provided by the advertiser. One document was a report by an independent testing facility in China. The report set out a range of parameters that had been tested. The only relevant measure demonstrated that deionised water increased in alkalinity after being introduced to the bottle. The second document appeared to demonstrate that water increased in alkalinity, as did hydrogen content after being introduced to the bottle. That document also appeared to show the ORP level decreased. However, the document did not set out the methodology used to achieve the results and did not appear to be independently tested. Therefore we did not consider that document to be sufficient substantiation.
Because the substantiation we deemed sufficient only concerned increased alkalinity, we did not consider that the evidence provided was relevant to or demonstrated that drinking alkalised water was beneficial to overall good health and health-related wellbeing or that antioxidant properties or something “living” had been added to water in the bottle. We therefore concluded that the claims in the ad were misleading and had not been substantiated.
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),
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) and
12.1
12.1
Objective claims must be backed by evidence, if relevant consisting of trials conducted on people. Substantiation will be assessed on the basis of the available scientific knowledge.
Medicinal or medical claims and indications may be made for a medicinal product that is licensed by the MHRA, VMD or under the auspices of the EMA, or for a CE-marked medical device. A medicinal claim is a claim that a product or its constituent(s) can be used with a view to making a medical diagnosis or can treat or prevent disease, including an injury, ailment or adverse condition, whether of body or mind, in human beings.
Secondary medicinal claims made for cosmetic products as defined in the appropriate European legislation must be backed by evidence. These are limited to any preventative action of the product and may not include claims to treat disease.
(Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told DYLN to not state or imply that their product was beneficial to overall good health and health-related wellbeing or introduced antioxidant properties to the water or that it had some sort of living quality.
