Anti-wrinkle serum ad banned for prescription comparison following appeal

Origins Natural Resources’ Plantscription Anti-aging serum was originally pulled up by the Natiional Advertising Division over claims it provides 88 percent of the visible wrinkle-reducing power of a prescription.

NAD also recommended that the advertiser discontinue references to Anogeissus, discontinue the use of the term “repair,” minimize references to surgical procedures and modify claims to avoid any potential overstatement of the extent to which its products are natural.

Appeal​

Following this decision Origins then took its appeal to the National Advertising Review Board, the appellate unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation, who agreed with the prescription claim but found that Origins had supported all other claims at issue.

Origins, in its advertiser’s statement, said the company “is pleased that the Panel agreed with Origins on four of the five issues presented for NARB review.”​

NARB, following its review of the advertiser’s evidence, determined that message in the advertising which compared the serum to an anti-wrinkle prescription, was not supported and recommended that these claims be discontinued.

Origins took issue with this decision, adding, however, that it was “pleased that the panel agreed with Origins that the data generated in Origins’ clinical testing could be relied on to support a comparative claim,” and ​agreeing to “take into account and address the concerns expressed by the Panel.”​

Supported claims​

However, these were the only claims NARB upheld. The panel found that advertised references to the products containing Anogeissus reasonably conveyed only the messages that the products contain the ingredient and that it contributes to the anti-aging effect of the products, and were supported.

The panel also found that humorous references to cosmetic surgery did not reasonably convey a message that Plantscription Anti-aging eye treatment provides results comparable to cosmetic surgery, and that the ads did not overstate the extent to which the treatment is natural.

Finally, the NARB panel found that claims that Plantscription products “visibly help repair” signs of aging conveyed a message that the products improve facial appearance with respect to lines and wrinkles, and was reasonably supported.