L’Oréal Kids Shampoos Split Ends, “Fast Dry” Claims Revision Advised

Modified claims for L'Oréal Kids Strawberry Smoothie and Fast Dry shampoos were recommended by the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, according to a recently-issued CARU Case Report.

CARU questions claims in TV advertising, packaging and the L'Oréal Kids Web site, including statements linking Strawberry Smoothie with "no split ends" and that Fast Dry shampoo "dries in a flash" and helps "say goodbye to wet pillows at bedtime and cold heads in the morning."

The claims came to CARU's attention through its routine monitoring of advertising directed to children. The TV ads aired on the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and WB Kids during traditional children's viewing time. CARU is part of the BBB council's voluntary advertising review program.

After considering supporting data from L'Oréal, the review unit concluded the claims "No split ends" and "Split ends. No way" should be modified to "clarify that use of the shampoo will help prevent the formation of split ends" but not remove them, the August report notes.

With regard to Fast Dry, CARU advises the claims "be modified to reflect the actual savings in time provided by use of Fast Dry." More specifically, the group explains the TV ad "should include a voiceover and super that state the number of minutes it actually takes for hair washed with Fast Dry to become perfectly dry."

L'Oréal said it intended the statements on split ends to "convey that the product will help protect against the formation of split ends," the report says. Strawberry Smoothie uses a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner technology to provide "improved combability and manageability, thereby reducing static fly-aways, tangling and split ends."

In support of its position, the company submitted lab data indicating use of the shampoo allowed for significantly "lower combing force" and less static.

In addition, an at-home comparative study of the 2-in-1 product and a "basic" shampoo found Strawberry Smoothie was "significantly rated higher" for removing knots and tangles. The study involved 30 subjects. Neither study looked specifically at split ends or how split ends were affected by use of the shampoo, CARU notes.

For Fast Dry, L'Oréal argued the claim "say goodbye to wet pillows at bedtime and cold heads in the morning" was a fanciful way of conveying the message that Fast Dry would dry hair faster than a basic shampoo. The shampoo was introduced in early 2002.

The company explained Fast Dry incorporates a patented silicone-based technology that coats hair to prevent excess water from entering the shaft, thus allowing hair to dry as "fast as with the state-of-the-art fast dry shampoo ( Redken Active Express Flash Wash Shampoo)."

CARU agrees that information provided by L'Oréal "did substantiate the claim that Fast Dry is fast drying and that use of Fast Dry will result in hair drying much faster than when using ordinary shampoo."

The company submitted lab data comparing drying times for hair swatches washed with Fast Dry and Flash Wash and data on Flash Wash from a study by the Good Housekeeping Institute.

L'Oréal's testing showed Fast Dry dried in just slightly (but not statistically significant) more time than hair washed with Flash Wash, CARU notes. The Good Housekeeping report found hair washed with Flash Wash dried in 27.5 minutes, or approximately twice as fast as ordinary shampoo, the group adds.

However, CARU concludes children reading the "say goodbye to wet pillows" and "dries in a flash" claims "will interpret them literally to mean that their hair will dry so quickly that they can wash their hair directly before bedtime or right before they need to leave for school, and have dry hair almost immediately."

Had the statements been made in ads directed only to adults, "these claims might have been considered mere puffery," CARU states.

In response, L'Oréal said it did "not agree that children would be mislead by Fast Dry's advertising or by the wording of the split ends claim." Nevertheless, the firm added "in the spirit of cooperation and support for a self-regulatory system, we will take CARU's views into consideration on future advertising."