LONDON — Britain’s Promoting Standards Authority, an industry-funded watchdog, has rebuked Rimmel for a mascara ad starring Cara Delevingne.

The watchdog upheld a single criticism concerning the TV campaign for Rimmel’s Scandaleyes Reloaded mascara, and called it misleading. The campaign initially aired last December, and Rimmel has confirmed it might comply with the ASA ruling and pull the ad.

The ad showed the mascara being applied to Delevingne’s lush eyelashes, which had been enhanced with individual lash inserts. A voiceover said: “Rimmel introduces Cara Delevingne for brand new Scandaleyes Reloaded mascara. Dangerously daring lashes. Latest max-density brush for clump free lashes. Extreme volume, extreme wear.”

The British model-actress was named the face of Rimmel last yr and continues to function an envoy. In a previous campaign, she appeared as a undercover agent running around London in a shoot photographed by Sølve Sundsbø and directed by Anthony Mandler.

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The watchdog acted on a criticism from a member of the general public who said the ad was exaggerated compared with the product’s performance.

Rimmel said that while it regretted the ASA’s decision, it might comply with the ruling and never air the TV industrial again in its current form. It said it had worked closely with the ASA for the reason that criticism was raised in December.

Rimmel’s parent, Coty UK Ltd., had argued that the ad provided an accurate representation of the product and its characteristics. The corporate had provided before and after pictures of Delevingne’s eyelashes to the ASA, together with post-production images.

The corporate insisted the TV industrial was according to industry practice, and said it had used the lash inserts only to “fill in gaps and to create a uniform lash line.” The corporate also noted that in post-production some lashes had even been drawn on in order to face out against Delevingne’s dark eyeshadow.

Clearcast, the corporate accountable for clearing TV ads before they’re aired within the UK, said each corporations had “acted in accordance with the relevant guidelines on cosmetic production techniques and had not used lash inserts to mislead or exaggerate the results of the mascara. Clearcast said Coty had not lengthened or thickened any lashes in post-production.

“We’ll reflect on this ruling and use it as a precedent for future clearances,” said a Clearcast spokesman.

The ruling noted that customers “would expect to experience similar results to those shown within the ad,” given name of the product and the voiceover.

The ASA added: “We noted Coty’s assertion that the post-production techniques used weren’t intended to elongate the model’s eyelashes. Nevertheless, we considered that they did look like longer within the after photo. While it was not clear whether this was attributable to the lash inserts or the ‘re-drawing’ of some lashes in post-production, or each, we considered that the general effect was longer lashes with more volume.”

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