ASA bans misrepresentative Herbex ad

Posted 05 April 2018

From EWN Eyewitness News

The Advertising Standards Authority ordered that the advert be pulled following a complaint by consumer activist and medical doctor Harris Steinman.

JOHANNESBURG – Herbex finds itself in a tight situation after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned one of its ads for misrepresenting the weight loss efficacy of its “fat attack” product. [Refers to this ASA ruling]

The authority ordered that the advert be pulled following a complaint by consumer activist and medical doctor Harris Steinman.

He claims Herbex’s fat attack TV ad is not substantiated by any objective evidence and that the testimony by one of the featured persons does not represent the majority of users of the product.

The authority’s CEO Gail Schimmel said: “We got a new complaint against a testimonial advertisement of Herbex where a woman claims to have lost a certain amount of weight and makes an efficacy claim of the product. We gave Herbex a chance to respond and it said it is not prepared to engage with ASA. We, therefore, had no choice really [but to ban the ad].”

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