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Beauty

19th Apr 2017

An ad starring Cara Delevingne has been banned for misleading customers

Katie Mythen-Lynch

The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered that an ad for the cosmetics company Rimmel should be taken off air after it was deemed to be misleading customers.

The advertisement, which features the model Cara Delevingne, is for the brand’s new Scandaleyes Reloaded mascara, which promises “New max-density brush for clump free lashes. Extreme volume … Extreme wear.”

After a complaint from a member of the public who accused the brand of exaggerating the effects of the product on screen, its makers, Coty UK initially denied the claim, saying Ms Delevinghe’s lashes were naturally full and long.

Later the company admitted that false eyelashes had been used to ‘fill in the gaps’ in the model’s lashline and that computer technology had been employed to ‘redraw’ some lashes afterwards.

In a statement, the ASA explained:

“Because the ad conveyed a volumising, lengthening and thickening effect of the product we considered the use of lash inserts and the post-production technique were likely to exaggerate the effect beyond what could be achieved by the product among consumers.

“We therefore concluded the ad was misleading.”

The ad has since been pulled from TV stations.