Ad description
A Teleshopping presentation and a YouTube video for Tristar Products (UK) Ltd, seen on 11 July 2016, which promoted Slim Panties:
a. The TV ad featured a voice-over which stated, “The secret lies in its extra wide compression band which helps to visually tighten and tone your tummy and the most common problem areas: belly, abdomen, waist and back.” Two presenters were shown discussing the garment. Several customer testimonials were given, with before and after images shown where the garment created a slimmer hourglass shape with a smoother outline when worn. Five women demonstrated the product being worn. One woman, who gave a live demonstration by pulling up the garment over her waist said, “I can’t believe this, I didn’t expect this at all, I’ve slimmed down like two sizes, I look so much slimmer, it covers my whole waist.” The presenter then stated, “Instantly you can see how much slimmer and how much more toned she looks” and continued “For the folks at home lets show them, this is not photo shopped, this is not something fake, lets show them how instantly you can make a difference.”
b. The YouTube video featured a voice-over which stated, “Ladies pay attention, are you tired of the lumps, bulges and bumps you see when your wear fitted clothes? Well now you can breathe again. Introducing Slim Panties. The amazing garment that gives you the comfort of regular panties with the support and instant slimming effect of shapewear. Slim Panties have a 360 design with an extra wide compression band built in, so it hides excess fat around the waist, back and abdomen. No more muffin top or unsightly bulges.” The ad featured a series of several before and after photos of women who had tried on the garment. The camera cut to a woman who said, “Can you believe I look this slim and toned with this simple garment?” The voice-over continued, “The perfect slimming solution where you need it the most. Slim Panties have 360 degrees of seamless comfortable compression that visually tones the flab, flattens the stomach, moulds your body, lifts and tones your buttocks and makes you look up to two sizes smaller in just seconds.”
Issue
A viewer challenged whether the ad misleadingly exaggerated the slimming effect of the product.
Response
Tristar Products Ltd stated that all before and after examples shown were real and there had been no modifying or editing of the shape. They said that the only addition to the images were the white lines to show the difference when the garment was worn.
They said that for the endorsements and testimonials, all different shapes and sizes of women were used with visibly different results as they did not claim that it would create a certain shape or guaranteed size. They attached a signed declaration from the producer of the ad which confirmed that she was present at the shoot and the ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots filmed were genuine.
With regards to the Teleshopping presentation, Clearcast stated that the shapewear consisted of 90% nylon and 10% spandex and both were types of material known for their body contouring properties. They stated that the garment had been designed to cover and hold in the whole of the stomach area for a smoother appearance.
Clearcast said that they worked very closely with the advertiser at the script stage to adapt the existing American ad to the UK market and they had been careful in ensuring that the claims stated to “look a size slimmer” and not to state that the wearer would be two sizes slimmer, as well as stating “trim the appearance of waist line” not that it would trim the waistline and “get appearance of a sculpted bottom”, all of which were in line with the average consumers expectations of a shapewear garment.
Clearcast stated that this was a long form ad featuring a variety of models of all shapes and sizes and the visuals were representative of the product capabilities and did not go beyond what was normally expected from compressing shapewear. They attached three images of the models featured in the ad and stated that those particular images demonstrated the ‘holding in’ function of the garment.
They provided nine signed and witnessed testimonials from the models featured in the ad which stated that the ad truly and accurately represented their opinion and experience of the product. Clearcast stated that they were of a view that they could accept these declarations as testimonials.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that the average consumer would expect the images featured in both ads (a) and (b) to be representative of the slimming effect that could be achieved by wearing the garment. We understood that the product was a compression garment designed to be worn underneath clothing and gave the appearance of smoothing and reducing the size of the waist.
In both ads the models were shown to have a smoother silhouette when wearing the garment. However, we considered that post-production techniques appear to have been used on the ‘after’ images, and that they exaggerated the garment’s slimming effect. For example, during the live demonstration of the product in ad (a), the text on the screen placed behind the model appeared to be distorted and the edge of the screen appeared to curve inwards as the model pulled the garment over her waist, while also displaying an instantly slimmer silhouette. Ad (b) also featured a ‘before’ and ‘after’ image of a model wearing a beige version of the garment and depicted a substantial reduction in the size of the models’ torso and waistline when compared to the ‘before’ image. We considered that this was not a plausible example of what the product could actually achieve. We were also concerned that other demonstrations of the products in use in the ads showed a significant slimming effect which was unlikely to be achievable with a compression garment of this nature. For those reasons we did not consider that the declarations and testimonials were adequate evidence of the slimming effects shown in the ad.
We concluded that the results shown in ads (a) and (b) went beyond what could be achieved from a compression garment and were therefore misleading.
Ad (a) breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.9 3.9 Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is 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), 3.12 3.12 Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product or service. (Exaggeration) and ad (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Advertisements 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), 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Exaggeration).
Action
The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Tristar Products Ltd to ensure that any post-production techniques used in their ads did not exaggerate the capabilities of their products.
