Case study 3: Press ad

casestudy3

An example of press ad for teenage slimming product. What's wrong and right with this advert?

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Advert for teenage Slimming product

Poster for press ad in a teenage magazine for a slimming product with a target audience of fashion conscious 15/16 year old girls 

Contents:

Title

LOSE WEIGHT FAST WITH EASY SLIM

Blurb

Are you fed up with buttons that pop open and zips that won’t fasten?

Do you dread searching for new clothes in the shops?

Do your friends look at you and snigger?

Would you like to look in the mirror and see a brand new you?

Body

Easy slim is the new slimming revolution that is taking the UK by storm. Designed by top nutritionists and recommended by doctors, our fast-acting appetite suppressants are guaranteed to make you shed those pounds off those hard to target areas like bums and hips. Now you can throw away your diet books because there’s a new, Easy way to lose weight fast! Just one pill before each meal can help you lose a pound a day, leaving you one stone lighter in just two weeks.

Footer

Look forward to a more attractive and happier you! It’s so Easy with Easy slim

Issues with Ad:

Issue:  Ads for weight loss products such as this should not be directed at under 18s. This ad would be unacceptable in a magazine aimed at 15/16 year old girls.  

Issue:  The ASA would expect rigorous evidence in the form of clinical trials conducted on people, to prove the product’s efficacy. If the advertisers do not have any evidence, the product should be advertised on an ‘availability-only’ platform which means that the copy should not contain any direct or implied weight loss claims.   

Extract: ‘Lose weight fast with Easy Slim.’
Issue: ‘ Easy Slim’ is a ‘claim in a name’ and, in the absence of any evidence to prove efficacy, should be removed or, clearly linked by an asterisk to a disclaimer which states that the product has not been proved to have a weight loss effect.   

Extract:  ‘Are you fed up with buttons that pop open and zips that wont fasten?
Do you dread searching for new clothes in the shops?
Do your friends look at you and snigger?
Would you like to look in the mirror and see a brand new you?’
Issue: Claims such as this could be seen to be suggesting that it is desirable to be underweight.  

Extract: ‘Easy Slim is a new slimming revolution..’
Issue: It’s unacceptable to state ‘new’ if the product has been on sale for over 12 months.  

Extract: ‘Designed by top nutritionists and recommended by doctors..’
Issue: Evidence should be held for claims such as these. 

Extract: ‘…our fast-acting appetite suppressants’
Issue: Does the product need marketing authorisation from the MHRA? 

Extract: ‘…are guaranteed’
Issue: Marketers should not ‘guarantee’ weight loss. 

Extract: ‘…to make you shed those pounds off those hard to target areas like bums and hips’
Issue: Marketers should not claim that consumers can lose weight or fat from specific parts of the body. 

Extract: ‘Now you can throw away diet books…’
Issue: This implies that the product alone will help you lose weight with no prominence given to the role of diet and exercise.  

Extract: ‘Just one pill before each meal can help you lose a pound a day, leaving you one stone lighter in just two weeks.’
Issue: This is an unacceptable rate of weight loss. Loss of more than 2lbs a week is not in line with good nutritional practice.  

Extract: ‘Look forward to a more attractive and happier you.’
Issue: This could imply that it is desirable to be underweight 

Extract: Silhouette of an obese girl shown on the poster
Issue: It is unacceptable to depict a clearly obese person in an ad for a slimming product because obesity is a serious medical condition.