Independent consumer watchdog Choice has included an Australian shapewear brand in its 2011 "Shonky Awards" list, claiming the label misled the market with bogus product advertising.
The Choice “Shonky Awards”, launched in 2006, aim to research and expose dubious, risky and dangerous products being sold in Australia. This year, for the first time, a fashion brand has made the infamous list.
Peachy Pink Anti Cellulite Shapewear has come under fire from Choice for its product advertising, which claims to reduce cellulite and assist in weightloss of up to 8cm, when worn eight hours a day for 21 days.
The product, distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Defytime Innovations, is infused with green tea, peaches and caffeine and according to the brand's website is the only “clinically proven anti-cellulite shapewear on the market”.
However, research results investigated by Choice discovered that tests on Peachy Pink product were undertaken by Spincontrol Laboratories whose website proclaims “two doses of accuracy, one dose of creativity and a touch of audacity”.
Choice director of campaigns & communications, Christopher Zinn said no clinical tests on Peachy Pink pants had been published in a peer reviewed journal either, adding suspicion to the claims.
“Peachy Pink made the list because it made claims that we felt couldn't be substantiated by clinical evidence. Other shapewear claims only to temporarily improve your shape,” he said.
“The trials they referred to also
weren't published in the medical literature when we searched Medline
in July 2011, and again in October 2011. Clinical trials published in
peer-reviewed journals are considered more reliable than unpublished
trial results, because the scrutiny to which they're subjected means
certain standards must be upheld. One of the trials also consisted of
only two subjects, which would be considered an inadequate number for
reliable statistical analysis.”
Zinn added that it was rare to have a fashion brand included in the ”Shonky” list.
“Normally our core areas are finance, home, digital, babies and kids products, food, product safety, and telco. Fashion we hadn't done before, because while in fashion there are many things that can claim to be extraordinary, fashion is in the eye of the beholder,” he said.
“It's usually the claims or marketing around the product, rather than the product itself that gets the brand in trouble, but in fashion they usually don't make claims, they just say they are fantastic or 'out of this world' and those are fairly unmeasurable things [for us].”