NEW DELHI: Advertisements on e-commerce platforms that claim certain body lotions can whiten your skin in just minutes always sounded fictitious. What you doubted has turned out to be true. In three recent cases, companies have admitted to the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) that these were exaggerations and they resorted to such claims of “unique selling point (USP)” to just come up on e-commerce platforms.
In orders passed by the CCPA in Feb against four companies selling whitening creams and body lotion, including the three which cited USP, the consumer watchdog has recorded how the companies failed to substantiate their claims. They withdrew their advertisements from e-commerce platforms after the authority issued notices to them.
In all these cases, investigations by the Bureau of Indian Standards confirmed that the companies failed to provide any scientific validation to their claims or any proof to support their claims. It has imposed fines on these entities and instructed them not to make such unverified and unsubstantiated claims. It cautioned them of a Rs 50 lakh fine for repeat of offence.
Interestingly, in all the four cases, the companies claimed they were unaware of the law against misleading advertisements of the CCPA.
