Teeth whitener at centre of controversy - Influencers obliged to post correction

English2021. feb. 15.MTI

In order to prevent consumer harm, the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) imposed a temporarily ban on promoting home teeth whitening kit BrightWhite until the end of the investigation, and ordered influencers advertising the product on social media to post a correction.

According to a statement sent to Hungarian news wire MTI on Tuesday, the authority launched an investigation into distributors of the BrightWhite home teeth whitening kit in late 2020 because their advertising practices are presumably misleading consumers in several ways.

The products are registered by the National Public Health Centre as banned from the market due to incomplete product documentation, and the possibility that it might contain substances banned by European professional standards cannot be ruled out.

Therefore, according to the competition authority the teeth whitening kit cannot be legally promoted.

During the proceedings, GVH found that the product was still being actively advertised months after the ban by public health authorities had come into force, which may endanger a wide range of consumers, so they decided to temporarily prohibit the commercial practice until the end of the official investigation.

The temporary measure by GVH obliged companies distributing the BrightWhite home teeth whitening kit as well as those publishing the advertisements to stop promoting the product.

In addition, by ordering intermediary agencies, the Hungarian Competition Authority ordered that corrective information should be published on the social media channels of influencers who participated in the advertising of the product after the sales ban.