Katy Perry, Justin Bieber spot cream ads pulled in UK

Published Jul 21 2012, 10:35 BST  |  By Paul Martinovic

Adverts for an acne treatment endorsed by Katy Perry and Justin Bieber have been ordered to be taken off air after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) declared them 'misleading'.

The Proactiv cream product has also been endorsed by a number of other high-profile celebrities including Elle Macpherson and Avril Lavigne.



According to The Sun, the ASA took issue with the fact that the UK formulation of the cream features a different active ingredient from the US version.

Guthy-Renker UK Ltd, the company behind the commercials, insisted that the stars had been sent the UK version of Proactiv to use, but the ASA argued that this is not enough to back up the claims made in the advert.

The ASA said: "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.

"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."

Perry and Bieber both ranked highly in the recent Forbes list of the highest earners under 30, with the 18-year old singer placing second with earnings of $55m (£35m) a year and Perry coming in at number five with yearly earnings of $47m (£31m).