UK advertising regulator rules P&G's Olay eye cream ad ‘misleading’

An advertising campaign for an Olay eye cream that fell foul of the British advertising watchdog's guidelines has been withdrawn, following complaints by 700 people including a Member of Parliament.

The advertising campaign which featured Twiggy, a super-thin, former supermodel, now 60, gave the false impression that the Olay "Definity Eye Illuminator" alone was responsible for keeping her virtually wrinkle free.

The watchdog ruled that the ad was 'misleading' as the wrinkles around her eyes had been airbrushed out. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) however rejected a further complaint that the magazine advert was socially irresponsible.

The campaign that claimed the £24.99-cream reduced the look of wrinkles and dark circles for brighter, younger looking eyes sparked off a controversy when it attracted the attention of Jo Swinson, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP and members of members of a website campaign opposed to the use of airbrushed pictures of models.

With the controversy growing Proctor and Gamble the company marketing the product backed out with a spokesman saying the firm had realised that the retouched photograph had been ''inconsistent'' with the company's policies.

According to an ASA spokesman the agency considered that the post-production retouching of the ad specifically in the eye area could give consumers a misleading impression of the effect the product could achieve.