Nivea anti-wrinkle cream advertisement banned

A commercial for a Nivea anti-wrinkle cream that gave the impression it helped women to feel more beautiful than when they were ten years younger has been banned.

The Advertising Standards Authority(ASA) warned the cinema advertisement was misleading.

The commercial showed a woman moisturising her face in front of a mirror, with a voiceover stating 'Nivea Visage Anti-Wrinkle Q10 Plus helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles'.

A group of her friends then greeted her with a birthday cake, and the voiceover continued: 'So it's no surprise that 37per cent of women feel more attractive now than they did ten years ago.'

However, a viewer complained the advertisement did not make clear whether the 37per cent claim was referring to women in general or just those who had used the cream.


Manufacturers Beiersdorf said that the claim had been taken from a survey conducted on attitudes and philosophies to life, adding that the 12,267 responses came from subscribers to the Nivea e-mail newsletter.

It said most of these women would probably be Nivea users, however it admitted it could not be certain how many.


In fact the statistic about 37per cent of women feeling more attractive than when they were younger was actually a response to a general attitudes survey and not linked to using Nivea products at all.

The watchdog banned the ad, saying: 'The ASA considered that the claim would be understood by consumers to mean that 37per cent of women interviewed felt more attractive because they used the advertised product.


However, we understood from the survey that respondents had been asked whether they agreed with the statement 'I feel more attractive today than I did ten years ago' in general terms, rather than in relation to the advertised product or its effects.

'We considered that the ad presented the relationship between the advertised product and the survey results in a way that was ambiguous, and could be confusing for consumers, and we therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.

'The ad must not appear again in its current form.'

Beiersdorf said: 'Nivea Visage conducted a survey on attitudes and philosophies to life via subscribers to the NIVEA newsletter and asked whether the female respondents felt more attractive now than they did ten years ago.

'We conduct these surveys to demonstrate an emotional connection between looking after your skin and they way it makes you feel.

'We believe good skincare enables a better emotional status, so when 37per cent of women replied that they felt more attractive now, we used the data as it was such a positive message.'