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.
Both CAP and the ASA have received enquiries and complaints about so-called ‘natural’ products that claim to enhance women’s breasts. In 2000, one marketer offered an oil that could supposedly result in bigger, firmer breasts (Angelica Products Ltd, September 2000). Several other marketers have offered herbal pills that they claim can enhance breasts (Cerdic UK Ltd, January 2000; Scanda Care, May 2000; Figure Plus, September 2000, and Erdic UK Ltd, January 2001). Needless to say, neither the ASA nor CAP has seen evidence to show that either the topical application of lotions or the ingesting of herbal pills can affect the size or firmness of breasts.
Marketers of all these products are usually advised that they should advertise their goods on an availability-only platform (make no direct or implied efficacy claims for their products). In 2004 the ASA ruled that the claim “0% Silicone” misleadingly implied that women’s breasts could be enhanced by taking herbal pills (Erdic UK Ltd, 25 August 2004). Advertisers must take care to avoid making implied claims through the product or company’s name or through close-up photographs of women’s cleavage (Erdic UK Ltd, January 2001).
Last modified : 26 July 2010