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July 30, 2008

Internet advert for slimming aid banned

ASA calls Pink Patch ad "irresponsible"

Carrie-Ann Skinner

An advert for a slimming aid, which has regularly appeared all over the internet including on social networking sites such as Facebook, has been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).

Adverts for the Pink Patch claimed dieters could lose up to a stone in two weeks just by wearing the pink patch, which according to the company, reduces cravings by releasing herbal ingredients into the body.

However, advertising watchdog the ASA said the advert was "irresponsible" and promoted "bad medical practice".

According to the ASA, there was no evidence that the ingredients resulted in any weight loss. It also highlighted that some of the studies for the patch were carried out on animals, not humans, which is contrary to the ASA code.

Olivia Campbell, spokeswoman for the ASA, said: "The ad was irresponsible for promoting bad medical practice of losing a stone in two weeks and failed to provide persuasive scientific evidence to substantiate its claims."

Nobody from CYC Marketing, the company behind the advert, was available for comment on the judgment.

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Comments received

citizen said on Wednesday, 30 July 2008

It is about time someone did something about these ads on the internet. People are losing money to these crooks.

Most of these diets don't even work. If they want to lose some weight, they should send some of the food they consume to Ethiopia and the Sudan, and it will not go to their guts, hence will not gain weight

Ben Harvey said on Wednesday, 30 July 2008

yipeeee!!!! have some of that!!!

I saw the advert whilst using hotmail. I went to the site after months of seeing it because it was interesting to see how a patch could cause weight loss.
It is cruel and wicked to prey on women creating weight issues when one does not exist in the first place. What really wound me up at the time was the last picture on the site. It was a girl that was soo skinny you could see her arm and shoulder bones with such clarity she looked ill and enerexic, BUT SHE WAS STILL WEARING A PATCH!!!!!!! the message undertoneS in that advert part is appalling!!.

Also said on Thursday, 31 July 2008

The following is copied from this web page?

However, advertising watchdog the ASA said the advert was "irresponsible" and promoted "bad medical practice".

The Pink Patch Works
Why is Pink the top Weight Loss Patch? It works! Try Pink free
ThePinkPatch.co.uk

According to the ASA, there was no evidence that the ingredients resulted in any weight loss. It also highlighted that some of the studies for the patch were carried out on animals, not humans, which is contrary to the ASA code.

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