Two adverts for sustainability focused deodorant brand Fussy have been banned after they were deemed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to have “denigrated” the brand Lynx.
Complaints directed at the brand (which was popularised in part by Dragon’s Den investment from Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden) came from Lynx owner Unilever.
The social posts, which were both considered ads because they were designed to promote Fussy, broke ASA codes about comparisons with identifiable competitors and about intimidation and denigration.
The first was an Instagram post with the caption “£733 million is wasted on unwanted gifts each year. So what do you think to a sustainable alternative to the UK’s top selling gift set?”.
It also had a disclaimer about the product being fictitious and hashtags including #mynxlondon.
Meanwhile, the second post to be condemned was a LinkedIn post by Fussy CEO and co-founder Matt Kenney, which featured the same image.
It read: “£733 million is wasted on unwanted gifts each year. So how about a refillable version of the UK’s [..] most unwanted […] Christmas giftpack?” along with similar hashtags.
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Defending itself, Fussy said the ads were intended to be editorial social media posts and pointed out that they had not advertised a real product.
Fussy also said that the name Mynx was not intended to allude to Lynx, but did accept that consumers could interpret it in that manner.
The ASA also highlighted that the look of the branding was such that many consumers would recognise the link to the Unilever-owned product.
The regulator acknowledged that Mynx was fictitious, but noted the link to the pejorative term about a flirtatious person who enjoyed creating problems for others – and deemed it denigrating.
It also viewed the terms “unwanted gifts” and “most unwanted” as pejorative comments, and found that the because the language was deeming the product to be of little value but did not amount to an objective comparison.
The ASA ruled that Fussy must not use the posts in the formed complained about again, and must ensure all future comparisons are just.
Lynx itself is well acquainted with the ASA over the years, having had a raft of adverts banned including for demeaning presentations of women.
