Clarins rapped over mobile phone damage claim

Clarins was today criticised for failing to prove claims that a skin spray protected against “electromagnetic waves” caused by mobile phones and other devices.

The cosmetics brand’s advert for Expertise 3P said the product formed “an advanced anti-pollution complex” for the skin.

But the Advertising Standards Authority today said Clarins made an “undue appeal” to readers’ fears about possible skin damage and failed to prove its claims.

The watchdog found the advert breached rules relating to truthfulness, substantiation, and fear and distress.

It told Clarins not to repeat claims about electromagnetic waves effect on skin without having “robust scientific evidence” to back them up.

The press advert said: “For the first time, Clarins Research reveals the link between exposure to artificial electromagnetic waves and accelerated skin ageing.”

A leaflet for Expertise 3P said these waves were caused by domestic communications equipment, UV rays, daylight and microwaves.

Clarins sent the ASA its research into the impact of electromagnetic waves from mobile phones on skin cells.

Some of the studies looked at radiation from a mobile phone over a six-hour period, while others monitored 24-hour exposure.

But the ASA said: “We considered that neither of those time periods were representative of typical consumer experience.

“We also understood that mobile phones would age, if anything, only a very small area of the body’s skin around the ear, and were also likely to affect only one side of the face. Yet there was no evidence of such ageing effects on consumers, despite mobile phones having been popular for some time.”

The watchdog said Clarins’ studies were “not robust enough” to prove that mobile phones generated electromagnetic waves which damaged or aged skin.

Clarins also failed to prove that electronic devices other than mobile phones emitted the invisible waves and damaged skin, the ASA found.

It warned the cosmetics firm not to make an “undue appeal” to consumers’ fear of the harm that could be caused by man-made electromagnetic waves.