Katy Perry and Justin Bieber Proactiv Ads Banned in UK

Katy Perry Proactiv ads banned in UK

Celeb Proactiv Ads Banned in UK Because They're Misleading

Katy Perry and Justin Bieber have been banned from the UK.

Well, ads they appear in for Proactiv have been banned anyway, as the commercials were found to be misleading.

Proactiv, that miracle solution for clearing up acne, has a different formulation in the UK than it does in the U.S.

The active ingredient isn't the same and, as such, American ads for the product have been banned in the UK.

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The Brit version of the product uses salicylic acid, while the U.S. version employs benzoyl peroxide to get the job done.

A UK woman contacted the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), complaining that the American ads were misleading.

While it's likely that the American celebs endorsing Proactiv used the American version of the product, Guthy-Renker UK Ltd, the direct marketing company that creates the ads, commented that the celebs were also sent the UK formulations to try.

The ASA banned the ads, noting, "We considered the overall impression of the ads was that the celebrities were continued and regular users of Proactiv and noted the same endorsement claims were included on the US Proactiv website. We noted the signed statements, which related to only five of the seven testimonials, said the celebrities had each used the UK formulation of the product for a period of only several weeks, between one and three years before the ads appeared."

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Further, they explain, "We noted the ads were targeted at a UK audience and that the UK Proactiv products had a different active ingredient to the US version. In that context, we therefore considered the claims of continued use had not been substantiated. We concluded that the ads were misleading."

The ASA ordered Guthy-Renker' "to ensure endorsements and testimonials in future ads related to the product being advertised."