Online advertising of the 'hangover recovery' product Goodbye Dusty has been subject to an advertising complaint. Photo: 123RF
The owner of a company selling a supplement promising to cure hangovers feels singled out after the advertising watchdog ordered a takedown of one of her adverts.
An online advertisement for product Goodbye Dusty assured consumers they could be "the life of the party today" and then "fresh and onto it tomorrow with these quick recovery wonder capsules".
"You can now enjoy a long lunch, after-work drinks, a few glasses of wine on the couch or letting loose on the dance floor," it said.
But the Association of New Zealand Advertisers took issue with the marketing and complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that it made a therapeutic claim, and promoted excessive alcohol consumption.
Only medicines with consent to be distributed in New Zealand and medical devices can claim to have a therapeutic purpose in advertisements.
Now, the ASA has ruled the advert must be removed, leaving Rochelle Moffitt, who owns the company My All which produces Goodye Dusty, feeling "singled out".
"I tried quite hard to be compliant with the rules and at no point did I promote drinking excessively," she told NZME.
"I knew there were a few other companies who hadn't gone to the same standards so I didn't think too much more about it."
A quick search for similar products online shows multiple companies engaging in similar marketing tactics.
"Plan ahead and ditch the hangover," one brand stated, while another boasted of being able to relieve the "unpleasant symptoms that occur the morning after excessive alcohol intake".
Moffitt said she could only focus on what her own company was doing and so following the complaint she made amendments to her advertising.
"But if there are others out there who are getting away with it and no one has complained then good on them I suppose."
The Association of New Zealand Advertisers had also complained about two other advertisers of hangover supplements. One of those was settled, the other decision is still pending.
The group's CEO Lindsay Mouat told NZME the association looked for marketing it felt had breached the therapeutic and health advertising code.
He said they were seeking "clarification and some case law made on a bit of a grey area" but didn't want to single anyone out.
Its complaint about Goodbye Dusty centred on a testimonial that read; "OMG how dusty did I feel when I woke this morning? I knew I had a big day ahead and my partner said take 3 of these puppies, and within half an hour [my] hangover [was] completely gone."
The association argued the testimonial constituted an unsubstantiated therapeutic claim because of the assertion the reviewer's hangover had gone within half an hour of taking the supplement.
In response, Moffitt removed the word "hangover".
But the ASA said that wasn't sufficient to address the concerns of the complaint.
"The board said the advertisement still referred to taking the product in the context of 'after-work drinks', when feeling 'dusty' the morning after," the decision stated.
The ASA ordered the advert to be removed and not used again in the offending format.
* This story was first published in the New Zealand Herald.