Colgate must discontinue misleading toothpaste ad in U.K.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), an independent regulator of the advertising industry in the U.K., is taking issue with an advertisement for Colgate-Palmolive's Colgate Total toothpaste, according to an adjudication posted on its website.

The television and video-on-demand advertisement in question features a nurse at work talking about the antibacterial qualities of the toothpaste, and then shows the woman visiting her dentist and his recommendation to use the product.

The ASA has received seven complaints about the ad, which claim that by featuring a nurse at work and a reference to fighting bacteria, the ad misleadingly implies the product is endorsed by members of the nursing profession.

However, Colgate-Palmolive responded that the ad features an actress cast as a nurse who informs viewers that even a nurse, who was likely to deal with bacteria on a daily basis, might not be aware of the bacteria levels in the mouth. The company noted that the ad includes a disclaimer that states "Representation of nurse."

The nurse appears as an individual and a consumer, and makes references only to herself and not on behalf of any other members of the nursing profession, the company said. It believed that the overall impression was clearly fictitious and viewers would not view the ad as recounting the experience of a real nurse, or as portraying an endorsement by the nursing profession in general.

The ASA, however, has concluded that the ad is misleading. "The ad must not appear again in its current form," the organization stated. "We told Colgate not to imply that products were endorsed by healthcare professionals in the future, unless that was the case."