A Rimmel London advert which starred Love Island influencer Lana Jenkins has been banned for playing on the insecurities of teenage girls.
Video content from the 25-year-old influencer was featured in the campaign which had a back to school message and focused on cosmetics, beauty, fashion and make-up.
Complainants expressed concern around the fact that the advert’s claim “Get ready to slay this back to school season” was irresponsible due to its focus on young girls.
Coty UK, which is the parent company of Rimmel, argued that the advert targeted 18 – 35 year olds, and provided targeting data to demonstrate that. It also said that the term “slay” was commonly used among its target audience.
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However, the ASA upheld the complaint and argued that while “back to school” could refer to students, mums and teachers, but said that the use of the words alongside the vibrant pink colour scheme would primarily be understood by viewers as referring to when students return to secondary school or sixth form college.
The regulator also said that whilst Rimmel had used age and interest based targeting which avoided under 18s for the advert, this would not exclude all under 18s from viewing the content.
Finally, the regulator also highlighted that the use of the term “slay” in the context of the advert’s claims could be considered to imply that girls needed to wear make-up in order to succeed – and said that the advert must not appear again in the form the complainants raised.
Rimmel said it had no intention to roll out the campaign further.
