237 Cases of Unfair Online Cosmetic Advertisements Detected, Including "Recommended by Dr. XX" and "Hospital-Exclusive" Claims
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 23rd that it had inspected online posts selling cosmetics labeled as "hospital-exclusive cosmetics" and detected 237 cases in violation of the Cosmetics Act.
Among the detected cases, 91 advertisements (38.4%) misled or could potentially mislead consumers by falsely claiming endorsements such as "recommended by Dr. XX," "hospital-exclusive," or "hospital recommended." These expressions were newly added as examples of prohibited terms in the revised "Guidelines for Cosmetic Labeling and Advertising Management" in January.
Additionally, 114 advertisements (48.1%) were found to promote pharmaceutical-like efficacy and effects, such as "reduces skin inflammation," "skin regeneration," or "anti-inflammatory," which could cause consumers to mistakenly perceive cosmetics as pharmaceuticals. There were also 32 cases (13.5%) where general cosmetics were advertised as functional cosmetics, such as "wrinkle improvement," or where advertisements deviated from the approved content for functional cosmetics.
This inspection tracked and investigated responsible sellers for 186 unfair advertisements initially detected from sales companies, leading to the discovery of an additional 51 violations by these responsible sellers. The Ministry requested the Korea Communications Standards Commission and other authorities to block access to the offending posts. Furthermore, 35 responsible sellers identified in these cases will be subject to on-site inspections and administrative actions by the relevant regional offices of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
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A Ministry official stated, "We will continue to do our utmost not only to block illegal advertising activities by sales companies but also to track and take action against advertisements by responsible sellers, in order to minimize consumer harm from illegal advertising and to fundamentally resolve the issue of false and exaggerated cosmetic advertising."
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