An advert for Beauty Pie’s LED face mask has been banned from the London Underground after the advertising watchdog ruled it misled customers with a claim that the device was “clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in four weeks”.
The Advertising Standards Authority said the claim was not backed by sufficient evidence. Beauty Pie had tested the mask on only 28 people aged 30 to 65 over four weeks – a sample the watchdog called “relatively small”. The trial also lacked a placebo group, and testers were asked to use an exfoliating product and a hydrogel that are not sold with the mask. “We therefore considered the reported improvements in the appearance of wrinkles could not be attributed to the [mask] alone,” the ASA ruling said.
“Advertising watchdog bans Beauty Pie ad claiming LED mask is clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in four weeks.”
LED technology is commonly used in medical settings to treat eczema, acne, psoriasis and sun damage, but at-home devices are becoming increasingly popular. The global LED market is expected to be worth £600m by 2032, according to analysis firm Skyquest. Yet dermatologists have told the BBC that there have not been clinical trials with large enough sample sizes or long enough durations to know the benefits of at-home LED masks.
The advert, seen on the London Underground in December, described the mask as “skin tech that’s light years ahead”. Beauty Pie argued that its trial demonstrated “a significant reduction in wrinkles” and that 92% of testers agreed or strongly agreed that their “fine lines appear less visible”. The company said sample sizes of 20 to 25 are routinely accepted by other regulators.
But the ASA rejected this, noting that other studies provided by Beauty Pie were “insufficient to substantiate the claim that [the mask] was clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in four weeks”. The watchdog ruled the ad was misleading and ordered Beauty Pie not to make such a claim again unless they could back it up with robust, product-specific evidence.
Beauty Pie, a membership-based cosmetics firm that sells the C-Wave Light Facial LED mask for £199 to members or £299 to non-members, has been contacted for comment by the BBC.