Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on misleadingness and irresponsibility in ads for tanning products. The ads were identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules. See also related rulings published on 21 January 2026.
Ad description
A paid-for Google search ad for SunShine Co, a tanning studio, seen on 23 June 2025. The ad stated, “The SunShine Co. Is Your Go-To Destination For A Safe And Enjoyable Tanning Experience”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the claim that the use of sunbeds was “safe” was misleading and irresponsible.
Response
SFJ Group Ltd t/a SunShine Co did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Google UK Ltd said that Google Ireland had confirmed that the ad was served through one of Google’s advertising products. They said under the terms agreed to by advertisers, it was the advertiser’s responsibility to abide by Google’s advertising policy and applicable law, including the CAP Code.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by SunShine Co’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.
The ad included the claim, “Your Go-To Destination For A Safe […] Tanning Experience”. The ASA considered that consumers were likely to understand the claim to mean that obtaining a tan at SunShine Co was safe and did not carry any health risks. However, we did not receive any evidence to support this claim.
We also took into account that recent NHS advice on the use of sunbeds was cautious. The advice warned that the UV rays given out by sunbeds increased the risk of developing skin cancer. Cancer Research UK further advised that using a sunbed was not safe, and that there was no such thing as a safe tanning from UV radiation, irrespective of the source.
Because the ad implied that it was possible to safely obtain a tan, but we understood that was not the case, we concluded that it was misleading and irresponsible.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility) and 3.1 (Misleading advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form investigated. We told SFJ Group Ltd t/a SunShine Co to ensure that their ads were socially responsible and did not mislead consumers by suggesting that tanning can be obtained safely. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
