The Advertising Standards Authority has told Johnson & Johnson not to imply in its advertising that its 1 Day Acuvue product was more comfortable than all other daily disposable contact lenses unless it had robust evidence to substantiate that claim.
It further ordered the removal of two bar charts headed 'Significantly superior comfort than Focus Dailies with AquaComfort' from future advertising.
The ASA ruling comes in response to complaints made by CIBA Vision about a J&J advertisement that appeared in Optician early last year. CIBA said its own research showed its Focus Daily lens to be more comfortable than the 1 Day Acuvue product. CIBA took issue with the advert on two points - the claim 'Are you fitting the most comfortable contact lenses?' in conjunction with the 'good', 'better' and 'best' claims in a column headed 'Daily disposables' and two bar charts headed 'Significantly superior comfort than Focus Dailies with AquaComfort'.
In response J&J said it had conducted four separate independent studies which all supported its claim of superior comfort and detailed the trials, methodology and the results.
In its assessment the ASA said following expert advice it upheld the first complaint as it was concerned that: 'Johnson & Johnson had not provided us with evidence that the 1 Day Acuvue product was the most comfortable daily disposable contact lens available. We considered that they had not therefore substantiated that their product was more comfortable than all "other daily disposables".'
The second complaint concerning the bar charts was also upheld on the basis that it implied findings the ASA's expert was 'concerned' about.
Howard Barnes, managing director of CIBA Vision UK, said the outcome should reassure practitioners about the standards of advertising in the sector. 'Customers can make the right buying decisions based on substantiated research claims.' He said CIBA would continue to monitor the market and raise issues with the ASA or other appropriate bodies.
Rob Hollin, MD for Johnson & Johnson in northern Europe said. 'We are disappointed and frankly surprised by the judgement, having made great efforts to ensure that our studies are conducted in accordance with sound research practice. We strongly believe these claims are justified. These were four independent studies, one of which has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.' He said that practitioners, along with their patients would make their own judgements on which lenses deliver superior comfort.