The Advertising Standards Authority has banned high street chemist Boots’ Little Me Organics baby shampoo adverts for being misleading.
The adverts for the shampoo claimed to ‘clean and moisturise your baby’s delicate hair and sensitive skin’ but were found have less than five per cent natural ingredients, despite the website stating that it contained pear, mallow and organic aloe vera.
In its defence, Boots said that no legal definition around the use of the word ‘organic’ by a product existed and admitted that less than five per cent of the content could be described as such.
In response the ASA stated that while there was no legal standard for the term, independent bodies has certified that a product could only claim to be organic should a high percentage of it contain natural ingredients.
As a result, the ASA ruled that the organic claim was misleading and that adverts stating that it was must not be used again, telling Boots to refrain from promoting the product without the use of a disclaimer against its “implied ‘organic’ claim.”