L 8217 Oreal settles case with US regulator on anti aging claims

Cosmetics company L'Oreal has agreed to settle a case with US regulators over charges of deceptive advertising.

L’Oreal claimed in US advertising campaigns its Genifique products were “clinically proven” to boost gene activity and “stimulate the production of youth proteins,” the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said.

The US consumer regulator said that the adverts were "false and unsubstantiated".

FTC's director of the consumer protection Jessica Rich made an official statement yesterday (June 30th), which was cited byBloomberg: "It would be nice if cosmetics could alter our genes and turn back time. But L’Oreal couldn’t support these claims."

As part of the settlement, L'Oreal USA is barred from making any anti-aging claims unless it has "competent and reliable scientific evidence substantiating such claims", the FTC said.

L'Oreal shares down

The product Youth Code was also part of the complaint. Its advertising claimed to herald "the new era of skincare: gene science" and that consumers could "crack the code to younger acting skin", the BBC reports.

L'Oreal responded by saying the FTC was challenging only a limited number of assertions that the company no longer makes. 

"The claims at issue in this agreement have not been used for some time now, as the company constantly refreshes its advertising," the company said in a statement. 

"The safety, quality and effectiveness of the company’s products were never in question."

The company has sold Génifique US-wide since February 2009 at Lancôme counters in department stores. The company has sold Youth Code at major retail stores across the US since November 2010.

L’Oreal SA lost 0.78 per cent to 34.2000 at 10.51 ET today (July 1st) in New York. 

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