WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement requiring Nivea skin cream maker Beiersdorf Inc. to stop claiming that regular use of its Nivea My Silhouette! cream can significantly reduce consumers’ body size.
The FTC said Wednesday that Beiersdorf also has agreed to pay $900,000 as part of the settlement.
In its administrative complaint, the FTC charged Beiersdorf with falsely claiming that by regularly applying Nivea My Silhouette! cream to their skin, consumers could slim down.
According to the complaint, Beiersdorf marketed the skin cream in national television ads and through sponsored search results on Google. The company touted the cream’s "Bio-slim Complex," a combination of ingredients that includes anise and white tea, the FTC reported.
One TV spot, the FTC explained, depicted a woman getting dressed after having applied Nivea My Silhouette! cream to her stomach and thighs, digging through her closet, tyring on a pair of old jeans and finding that they now fit. In the ad, the voice-over said, "New Nivea My Silhouette! with Bio-Slim Complex helps redefine the appearance of your silhouette and noticeably firm skin in just four weeks. So you can rediscover your favorite jeans. And how they still get his attention. New Nivea My Silhouette! with Bio-Slim Complex. Touch and be touched," according to the agency.
The FTC said Beiersdorf also allegedly purchased sponsored search results from Google so that when consumers searched on the words "stomach fat," "nivea slim silhouette" or "thin waist," they found Beiersdorf ads implying that Nivea My Silhouette! could tone their stomachs, thin their waists and help them slim down.
"The real skinny on weight loss is that no cream is going to help you fit into your jeans," FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement.
