Rexona fined for unfair antiperspirant advertising

According to Lexology, a leading antiperspirant brand, Rexona has been fined for unfair advertising.

Lexology states that Rexona Invisible and Nivea Invisible are the two leading antiperspirant products on the Hungarian market. Rexona Invisible ran a publicity campaign across several television channels that stated the product was more effective than Nivea Invisible at eliminating sweat patches on black and white clothing.

Rexona’s campaign included two bar charts to support its claim. The bar charts showed characteristics of its spray, as well as Nivea’s and featured both brands trademark's. However, the charts only appeared on screen for three seconds.

Lexology reports that The Office of Economic Competition launched an investigation into the Rexona advertisement, which led to it deeming the comparison used unfair. Therefore, Rexona has been fined HUF30 million (€92,800).

When announcing its decision, the office mentioned the EU’s Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive as well as the European Court of Justice’s LIDL judgements, all of which state that comparative adverts must be objective and verifiable.