Singapore ad watchdog backs cancer survivor hair re-growth ad as ‘acceptable’
An ad that uses a recovered cancer patient to promote a hair re-growth treatment has been backed by Singapore’s advertising watchdog.
A print campaign for hair re-growth brand Beijing 101 is running in national newspapers in Singapore and features MediaCorp artiste Pan Ling Ling, who has recently recovered from cancer after chemotherapy.
The ad is running with the headline “Pan Ling Ling encounters hair problems and seeks help from Beijing 101, but makes no mention that Pan recently had chemotherapy, which caused her hair to fall out. It only states that before treatment with Beijing 101, “her scalp was oily and her hair follicles were clogged”.
The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore has backed the ad, which has been criticised by some in the ad community for being opportunistic.
The ASA told Mumbrella: “We contacted Beijing 101 for substantiations and they had provided a written confirmation from Ms Pan Ling Ling that states that Beijing 101 had effectively treated her hair problems pertaining to an oily scalp and clogged hair follicles. The ASAS Council, after reviewing the written confirmation by Ms Pan, found the advertisement acceptable.”
The authority did not comment on the use of a recent cancer survivor in the campaign.
Many celebrities in Asia who appeared in prominent ads after getting on the news don’t do so for profit but to show that they have regained their confidence after facing certain traumatic events in their lives.
In the example of Hong Kong celebrity Carina Lau who appeared in Marie France’s bust ad, she apparently did it to show that she had regained her confidence after gotten over her experience of being photographed nude against her will. She had earlier rejected the advances of a male suitor who was a influential gangster. She also appeared in a movie that showed her character rejecting a male suitor that clearly represented that rejected suitor.
Mediacorp’s Chen Liping has also done the same thing with a recent weight-loss ad. She also appeared in a skit many years ago that showed her criticizing Andrea DeCruz for wrongly-accusing her for her liver failure.
In Asia, I think celebrities do use ads to show to the public and their fans that they have regained their confidence. And the companies of the ads focus on the confidence that can come from using their products, which also aligns with the celebrities’ new-found confidence, rather than to accurately demonstrate their products’ real effectiveness.
ReplyIm all for free speech but timothy tang really abuses this privilege.
ReplyJase, you perceive anyone who writes something that you disagree with to be abusing free speech? I call that immature and small-minded. Next!
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