They sounded too good to be true: Designer leggings that could not only speed up a woman’s weight loss but also smooth out her cellulite.
Just wearing the £45 ‘SlimTech’ garment would create enough friction to release slimming ingredients held in billions of micro-capsules inside the cloth.
However, an advert for the leggings on the Debenhams website has now been banned after the manufacturer and retailer were unable to back up the boasts.
Three studies found no evidence of any significant weight loss.
The web advert said the black cropped leggings ‘have 'SlimTech' technology which is designed to accelerate fat loss’.
Wearing them ‘reduces muscular tiredness’, ‘smooths and moisturises the skin, helping to reduce cellulite’, and ‘lifts, tones and moisturises’, it claimed.
The friction caused when wearers move was said to break the microcapsules, releasing the slimming ingredients on to the skin.
These include red algae, a Japanese shrub called sophora japonica, and copaiba, a stimulant derived from South American trees, which ‘have been proven to be effective in slimming, smoothing, toning and moisturising’.
More...
Virgin Media 'unlimited' broadband ad banned after BSkyB and BT complain it's misleading as heavy downloaders have speeds cut in HALF
'Gratuitous' American Apparel adverts banned once again- this time for using 'overtly sexual' images of women
Advertising chiefs to ban car manufacturers that make 'misleading' claims about the vehicle fuel consumption
Debenhams and developer Elle Sport said their claims were supported by clinical sports trials, and provided the Advertising Standards Authority with three independent studies and a presentation.
But none of the studies, which involved women wearing the leggings for eight hours a day for five days, found any evidence of significant weight loss.
Slimming: Debenhams said their research into the weight loss claims was carried out by a reputable third party
The advert the ASA banned, saying the slimming claims were not proven
One found a small reduction in stomach measurement of an average of less than 1cm. A second identified similar tiny effects.
The ASA banned the original advert and told Debenhams not to imply the product could accelerate weight or fat loss.
Debenhams said: ‘We prepared the advert using information provided by the product supplier, which was supported by research carried out by a reputable independent third party.’