Commercials for a skincare brand featuring Katy Perry and Justin Bieber have been banned in the U.K. by advertising watchdogs. The TV adverts have been taken off air over claims the British versions of the products do not contain the same ingredients as the American range, which has been endorsed by a number of other stars including Elle Macpherson and Avril Lavigne.
Bosses at Guthy-Renker UK Ltd (GRUK), the marketing company behind the commercials, insisted the featured stars have been sent the British formulations of Proactiv products to use, but executives at the ASA alleged this did not back up the company's skincare claims.
A statement from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) reads, "We considered the overall impression of the ads was that the celebrities were continued and regular users of Proactiv and noted the same endorsement claims were included on the U.S. Proactiv website.
"We noted the signed statements, which related to only five of the seven testimonials, said the celebrities had each used the U.K. formulation of the product for a period of only several weeks, between one and three years before the ads appeared.
"We noted the ads were targeted at a U.K. audience and that the U.K. Proactiv products had a different active ingredient to the U.S. version. In that context, we therefore considered the claims of continued use had not been substantiated. We concluded that the ads were misleading. The ads must not appear again in their current form".