A YouTube advert for Wild deodorant is the latest in a wave of health claim-related bans by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), for implying that traditional deodorants are linked to breast cancer.
The advert, first seen as a pre-roll ad on YouTube in February this year, featured a woman in a sports bra with visible bruising on her chest, saying: “As a breast cancer thriver I’m prioritising my health and I’ve decided to finally go Wild. I’ve seen so many positive comments about how it’s completely natural”.
Defending its position, Wild argued that “the woman in the ad only stated that she was a breast cancer survivor and did not state anything to the effect that Wild would stop people from getting breast cancer.”
However the ASA considered that the messaging in the advert suggested that traditional deodorants were “harmful”.
The regulator said it “understood that this suggested link was unproven” and therefore “expected to see evidence to that effect”.
The advert as it appeared, courtesy of the ASA.
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Wild said “the advert did not infer that using natural deodorants would stop individuals from developing cancer”, and called the conclusion “a giant leap”.
However the ASA asserted that, while the ad did not explicitly make reference to that misconception, it considered it to have “alluded to it”.
Other adverts that have recently come under fire include those for supplements which claimed to treat conditions including anxiety or implied they could be used to treat autism.
With regards to the supplements, the ASA said “ads can’t claim a product can treat human disease unless licensed to do so”.
While the ASA was notified of the Wild advert by a complainant, the supplement adverts were picked up by the regulator’s Active Ad Monitoring System as part of its focus on health-related claims.
