Advertisment
The advertisement was a webpage advertising an ‘Ultrasonic Tooth Cleaner’. A slideshow that one could click through made claims about the product. One slide said, ‘We Can Solve/ Gum Disease/ Bacteria Growth/ Plaque Build-up/ Hardened Stains/ Tooth Decay/ Cavities/ Yellowing Teeth/ Increased Sensitivity.’ These claims about the product were over pictures of a dental nature; some of the pictures showed what appeared to be quite advanced states of dental distress and disease.
Another slide pictured the product and claimed it could deliver ‘Professional-level results from home’ and ‘Deep cleaning action reaches every corner’. A further, similar slide pictured the product and claimed it could deliver ‘Professional Cleaning At Home’.
A fourth slide had purported reviews for the product written by those who had presumably purchased the product. One review titled ‘Less trip to dentist as from now (sic)’ said towards the end that ‘I am sure I do not have to visit dentist often again and this will save me a lot of money.’
Complaint
The complainant objected to the advertising on the grounds that the claims made could not be true and individuals may be discouraged from seeking professional dental advice based on the claims about the advertised device. They said that they believed the device could not deliver professional level cleaning at home nor could it ‘solve’ conditions such as dental decay, gum disease, bacteria, amongst others.
Response
The advertisers said that they had made all the necessary changes to their website to have been compliant with the ASA Code. The slide claiming that a number of conditions could have been ‘solved’ by the product had been amended to read ‘We Can Help With!/ Daily Gum Care/ Oral Environment/ Reducing Visible Build-up/ Lifting Stains/ Smile Maintenance/ Stronger Routine’
The slide that claimed the product could deliver ‘Professional-level results from home’ and ‘Deep cleaning action reaches every corner’ was amended to read ‘Excellent results from home’ and the deep cleaning was now ‘Hook cleaning action’ that ‘reaches every corner’.
The slide that read ‘Professional Cleaning at Home’ was altered to read ‘Smart Cleaning at Home’
The review titled ‘Less trip to dentist as from now (sic)’ was deleted entirely.
Conclusion
Upheld:
The Independent Complaints Council considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response, including that changes had been made to their website claims.
The Council considered the advertising that was the subject of the complaint,
They considered that in the statement “We Can Solve/ Gum Disease/ Bacteria Growth/ Plaque Build-up/ Hardened Stains/ Tooth Decay/ Cavities/ Yellowing Teeth/ Increased Sensitivity” contained health claims, namely the claims to solve “Gum Disease”, “Bacteria Growth”, “Plaque Build-up”, “Tooth Decay” and “Cavities”. They noted the Code requirement that “Claims about health and beauty products and treatments should be backed by substantiation. Where relevant, this should include the results of robust and reputable trials on human subjects, of sufficient rigour, design and execution as to warrant general acceptance of the results.” The Council noted that such evidence had not been submitted and considered therefore that these claims were in breach of Section 11.1 of the Code.
The Council also considered that the following statements made in the original advertising
“We Can Solve …Hardened Stains… Yellowing Teeth… Increased Sensitivity”, and that the product could deliver “Professional-level results from home”, ”Deep cleaning action reaches every corner”, “Professional Cleaning At Home”, together with the customer reviews, were claims that required substantiation. The Council noted that no evidence had been provided for the claims. In the absence of evidence for the claims, the Council considered that the advertising was in breach of Sections 4.1, 4.4, 4.9, 4.10, and 11.1 of the Code.
Action Required:
The advertising must not reappear in its current form without substantiation. The Complaints Council reminded advertisers that substantiation is required for all objective claims.
