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Julia Roberts photo banned in the UK

A Lancôme print ad featuring Julia Roberts has been banned in Britain after MP Jo Swinson filed a complaint with U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority, calling it “misleading” because “the flawless skin in the image was the result of digital manipulation, not the product.” The ASA upheld Swinson’s complaint, stating the ad was “not representative of the results the products could achieve” because it had been airbrushed. The ad was found to have breached advertising standards codes 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.11 (Exaggeration). Lancôme admitted the image had been altered using “a soft focus and lower resolution,” but stated in their defense that Julia, 43, is famous for her “naturally healthy and glowing skin.” The ASA requested a copy of the original photo in order to compare it to the one in the ad, but they were denied, as Roberts has a clause in her contract that doesn’t allow the release of untouched photos. The ASA ruled: “On the basis of the evidence we had received, we could not conclude that the ad image accurately illustrated what effect the product could achieve, and that the image had not been exaggerated by digital post-production techniques. We therefore concluded the ad was misleading.”