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Beijing 101 uses cancer survivor Pan Ling Ling to promote hair re-growth product

A hair loss treatment brand is using a cancer survivor to prove its powers of follicular rejuvenation in an ad campaign in Singapore.

Beijing 101 ad scan

A newspaper ad for Beijing 101 featuring Singaporean actress Pan Ling Ling, who recently recovered from cancer after chemotherapy and surgery, ran in the Straits Times yesterday with the headline “Pan Ling Ling encounters hair problems and seeks help from Beijing 101”.

But the ad makes no mention that the MediaCorp artiste had cancer and was treated with chemotherapy, which caused her hair to fall out. The ad merely states: “her scalp was oily and her hair follicles were clogged”.

Before and after image on Beijing 101's Facebook pageA ‘before’ picture of the actress supposedly shows her in November 2013, nine months after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. An ‘after’ picture shows her one month after she started using the hair treatment, which is said to contain ‘premium grade Chinese herbs’. A similar image (right) is running on Beijing 101’s Facebook page, but shows Pan three months after she started using the treatment.

The 43 year-old actress was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2013. Her father died from lung cancer in November of that year.

Last month, Pan told TODAY newspaper about her battle with the disease. She said: “I wanted to experience the stages, so I waited for my hair to fall. The oncologist said I should shave it off but I said no – I wanted to experience how bad it could be.”

Fiona Bartholomeusz, MD of Singapore ad agency Formul8, suggested that it was “opportunistic” for both brand and endorser to use a cancer survival in an ad for a hair loss treatment.

“It’s a smack in the face for cancer victims who don’t try to profit from just surviving,” she told Mumbrella. “I was in awe of her survival story, now not so much. It’s just in bad taste.”

Pan has been the celebrity ambassador for Beijing 101 for some years, and recently appeared at a press conference to promote the brand after recovering from the illness.

She has appeared in magazines and newspapers in Singapore, such as 8 Days and Her World Plus in which she was described as “an inspiration to all women”.

In 2010, an ad for Beijing 101 featuring Pan did the rounds on Twitter, with readers suspecting the actress was wearing a wig.

Beijing 101 ad

The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore told Mumbrella that it had not received complaints about the Beijing 101 ad.

Beijing 101 had also not responded to Mumbrella’s queries at press time.

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