Ad description
A national press ad for a food supplement, Visionace, from Vitabiotics included text which stated "Visionace is a research based formula used by leading UK optometrists".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim Visionace was "used by leading UK optometrists" could be substantiated.
Response
Vitabiotics Ltd said that the claim was intended to communicate that leading UK optometrists used the supplement in relation to their patients and customers, rather than personal use by the optometrists themselves. They supplied several recent invoices relating to different optometrist companies to demonstrate that they had purchased the product recently. They also provided evidence of the use of Visionace by four individual optometrists in relation to their patients and customers. They said the claim, or similar claims, had been in use for over ten years, but that they had focused on providing recent evidence. They also provided a letter from 2006 relating to the approval of the product by a national opticians chain.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the claim that leading UK optometrists sold and recommended the food supplement to their customers. The invoices supplied were recent and demonstrated that various optometrist companies, including a large national chain, purchased the product. We therefore considered that the claim had been substantiated.
We investigated the ad under 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), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
