Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
Marketers of beauty treatment devices that use electrical currents often seek to describe their products as offering a “non-surgical face-lift”. The devices stimulate muscles under the skin to temporarily improve the tone and tightness of the skin. The devices must be used regularly and any result is short-lived. Claims that go further than “temporarily tones and tightens the skin” are unlikely to be acceptable.
CACI (Computer Aided Cosmetology Instrument) is a popular treatment offered as a treatment for the face and neck. It combines tiny electrical currents and glycolic acid and marketers claim it can stimulate muscle tone and enhance skin tissue. CAP accepts that CACI can only temporarily tone and tighten the skin (See CAP Help Note on Beauty Treatment Devices Using Electrical Currents).
But the ASA has not seen convincing evidence that electrical-current devices can: eliminate, or reduce in the long term, the superficial signs of ageing; rejuvenate, restore, restructure or rebuild the skin, face or body or bring about as marked a change as is possible from undergoing cosmetic surgery (The Hogarth Group, 7 December 2005) .
Often this type of product is described as a ‘Non-Surgical Facelift’. For this and any other product or treatment that does not involve surgery, claims such as “non-surgical facelift”, “facelift without the surgery” or similar are unacceptable because they imply the product is equivalent to surgery, and has immediate and permanent results. Similarly, visuals of lasers, scalpels, syringes and other medical equipment associated with cosmetic surgery might be unacceptable. Marketers might be able to describe the product as ‘non-surgical’ but should do so in a way that does not convey a misleading impression about the effects of the product.
As an aside, all claims that muscle stimulators can facilitate weight loss or change fat into muscle are likely to be unacceptable.
See other ‘Anti-ageing’ entries.
Last modified : 26 July 2010