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LED mask ads banned over acne and rosacea claims

November 25, 2025 No Comments

By Jennifer Meierhans

A number of adverts for LED face masks have been banned for making unauthorised claims they can improve acne and rosacea.

The popularity of at-home beauty devices has surged in recent years with social media feeds filled with influencers unboxing and reviewing the masks as the latest skincare trend.

However, dermatologists are divided over whether light-emitting diodes (LED) in at-home masks can deliver the results of medical-grade devices used in clinics.

The advertising watchdog banned adverts for cosmetic devices which were not registered with the medicines regulator.

LED therapy is thought to stimulate cells and improve the skin, but devices must be registered with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to make medical claims about skin conditions like acne and rosacea.

Devices registered with the MHRA can be searched on its Public Access Registration Database (PARD). But the MHRA told the BBC “there are currently no LED face masks currently registered.”

Dermatologists have previously told the BBC there have not been clinical trials with large enough sample sizes for long enough periods of time to know the benefits of at-home LED masks.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) used AI to search for ads which might break the rules, and the bans followed that search.

‘My acne had disappeared’

An advert on Project E Beauty’s website showed before and after images of a woman’s forehead with and without acne, with the words: “By week three, my acne had disappeared”.

The ad stated: “Our most advanced LED mask for deeper skin renewal”. It claimed it “treats acne” and offered “83% improvement in acne lesions in four weeks”.

The ASA said “no medical claims could be made for the product, whether or not such claims appeared in customer testimonials.”

Project E Beauty LLC said it had removed potential medical claims relating to “healing”, “treating acne” and “rosacea”.

It also said it had amended the advert to state that any references to acne in before/after photos and reviews were testimonials based on personal experiences.

Silk'n A Silk'n advert showing a woman in a black tank top with dark curly hair wearing a white LED face mask and holding the controller while it beams red light on to her face — This advert was banned for making a medicinal claim about acne

A paid-for social media ad for Silk’n featured a video of a woman using an LED face mask with the caption: “Finished with the blue light to help treat my acne and scars”.

Invention Works BV, trading as Silk’n, acknowledged the term “acne” constituted a medical claim. It said the advert was created by a woman after prolonged use of the mask and the wording reflected her individual perception and results.

The ASA told Silk’n the adverts must not appear again in that form.

Beautaholics

Beautaholics agreed not to make claims about acne in adverts in future

Other adverts banned include one on the Beautaholics website for a RejuvaLux mask which stated: “This mask provides targeted solutions for…acne…rosacea.”

Beautaholics said it would not make claims regarding the treatment or prevention of medical conditions in future.

A paid-for social media ad for a mask by Luyors Retail Inc was also banned after it stated: “It helps tackle everything from acne…with clinical precision.”

Luyors said it would ensure future advertising did not refer to “acne” or other terms that could imply a medicinal claim.

Izzy Dharmasiri at the ASA said ads “can have an influence on what people buy,” so it was “important that advertisers don’t blur the line between cosmetic benefits and medicinal claims.”

She said advertisers “need to have evidence to back up any claims they make in their ads”. She said the banning of the adverts was part of its work to protect vulnerable people “seeking genuine solutions to medical problems”.

Feature image credit: Getty Images

By Jennifer Meierhans

Sourced from BBC

Advertising watchdog bans Hyundai and Toyota electric car ads

July 21, 2023 No Comments

By Mark Sweney

Campaigns made misleading claims about charging times and rapid-charging points in UK and Ireland, ASA says

The UK advertising watchdog has banned campaigns by Toyota and Hyundai for exaggerating the speed at which electric cars can be charged and misleading consumers about the availability of rapid-charging points across the UK and Ireland.

The Japanese car firm Toyota ran a marketing campaign on its website for its bZ4X model with the text “making electric easy”. The site claimed the vehicle could be charged to 80% in about 30 minutes using a 150kW fast-charging system.

Toyota said drivers could “easily find rapid-charging points in a number of public locations”, especially in areas where “drivers were most likely to need them”, such as main travel points on motorways and large arterial roads.

Hyundai ran a similar campaign – using its own website, a digital billboard in London’s Piccadilly Square and a YouTube film featuring footballers from the Premier League club Chelsea, which the South Korean car manufacturer sponsors – promoting its Ioniq 5 model electric car.

The campaign claimed the vehicle could be charged from 10% to 80% in 18 minutes using a 350kW charger.

An image from Hyundai’s brochure which prompted a ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority. Photograph: ASA/PA

The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints challenging whether the charging times, which both companies admitted were achieved in perfect factory conditions, were achievable in the real world.

The claims about the availability of rapid-charging points across the UK, which would affect the likelihood of consumers achieving the claimed charging time, were also challenged.

Toyota said that at the time it ran the ad campaign, Zap Map, which shows where charging points are located, did not show the precise locations of rapid 150kW chargers but showed that overall there were 419 charging points at 134 locations across the UK. However, there were just seven in Scotland, two in Wales and none in Northern Ireland.

Similarly, the Charge myHyundai website showed that there were 37 ultra-fast 350kW charging locations in Great Britain, six in the Republic of Ireland, “limited numbers” in Wales and Scotland, and none in Northern Ireland.

The bZ4X electric car pictured beside a beach

The bZ4X electric car from Toyota. Photograph: Nathan Leach-Proffer/AP

The companies said their claims were not misleading as it was unlikely that drivers would need rapid-charging points on shorter journeys, meaning they could use the more widely available slower charge points, with many people using points fitted at home.

However, the ASA said the manufacturers had given the impression it was “relatively straightforward” to access rapid-charging points across the UK.

The watchdog also found that numerous factors affected charging times in the real world, including the age and condition of a battery, the ambient temperature, and the battery temperature, all of which were controlled by the manufacturers in the tests used to make the claims.

“If any of those conditions were less than optimal, then charging times would likely take longer,” the ASA said.

The car manufacturers said it was essential that they be allowed to promote EV potential charge times to consumers to address obstacles to consumer take-up, such as range and charge anxiety, and a lack of awareness of the rollout of charging infrastructure.

However, the ASA banned the ad campaigns, the first ban it has instigated against electric car advertising claims, and told Toyota and Hyundai not to mislead consumers about battery charging times in future.

“We concluded that because the ads omitted material information about the factors that could significantly affect the advertised charging time and the limitations in relation to availability … the claims had not been substantiated and were misleading,” the ASA ruled.

Feature Image Credit: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters

By Mark Sweney

Sourced from The Guardian

Heinz means bans, but what other classic ads need a health and safety rethink?

December 14, 2016 No Comments

By Stuart Heritage.

The baked bean maker has had to can its ad after the ASA said kids could be harmed by drumming on beans tins. Where was the watchdog when the Hofmeister bear was on a boozy rampage?

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned the new Heinz Beanz advert – in which a succession of people tap out an Ed Sheeran-ish tune on empty cans – on the basis that children might mimic the commercial and cut off their fingers on a jagged scrap of metal. However, it is by no means the only “dangerous” ad. Here are some well-known ads that would no longer make it past health and safety.

John Lewis, 2016

A dog bounces on a trampoline, as happy as can be. However, several animal welfare campaigners have condemned the ad, pointing out the range of injuries and stress that trampolines can cause animals.

Proposed change: Advert now ends with the dog splayed out on the trampoline, howling in pain, while the father gingerly attempts to remove him with a shovel.

Muller Püd Corner, 2015

Nicole Scherzinger becomes so lost in the reverie of her delicious yoghurt that she topples backwards off a chair, laughing adorably. However, the NHS last year treated 13,000 people who suffered chair-related injuries.

Proposed change: Advert now ends with Scherzinger semi-conscious and bleeding, while a man in a bowler hat screams to camera: “Chair safety is not a joke!”

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, 2007

A lone gorilla sits behind a set of drums, preparing to play along to In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. However, fast-forwarding to 2016, the shooting of Harambe in Cincinnati zoo highlights the dangers posed to humanity by gorillas.

Proposed change: One second before the gorilla’s big fill, he is riddled with bullets. New slogan reads: “Dairy Milk – We just saved you from being mauled to death by this atrocity of nature.”

Hofmeister, 1981

A bear in a hat has a lovely time drinking beer in a pub. However, alcohol consumption in animals can lead to vomiting, weakness, hypotension, coma, hypothermia and death.

Proposed change: Advert now ends with a doctor informing a female bear and two cubs that the Hofmeister bear isn’t going to make it, and everyone sinking to their knees in horrified despair.

Apple, 2007

Paul McCartney walks down the middle of a road, playing a mandolin and singing Dance Tonight, which made it to No 26 in the UK charts. However, on average, one pedestrian dies on British roads every day.

Proposed change: After a line and a half of the song, McCartney is hit by a distracted driver. As he dies in the road, the ghost of Steve Jobs appears before him and barks: “Heaven isn’t real!”

R White’s Lemonade, 1973

A man sneaks downstairs in the dark at night to get a glass of his favourite carbonated beverage. However, this week, Cancer Research UK underlined the dangers of consuming too many sugar-packed fizzy drinks.

Proposed change: Advert is altered to show a man sneaking downstairs at night to prepare a fresh kale salad for himself. When confronted by his wife, he yells: “It’s kale! I’m going to live for ever!” Then he turns to camera and shouts: “EAT CLEAN!”