Get slim ads 'a big fat lie'

Slimbetti, a weight-loss company, has for four years been selling products that, it says, will give you the "incredible body you've always wanted".

And for four years consumer activist and medical doctor Harris Steinman has been complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority about the company's adverts.

Steinman has repeatedly said that there is no scientific evidence that Slimbetti products make losing weight easier. Since 2009, the authority has ruled nine times against the Slimbetti adverts.

But UK couple Chris and Jasmine Grindlay - who own Slimbetti - ignore the rulings and continue to make weight-loss claims in their advertising campaigns.

In some instances they have rebranded the product and advertised it under a new name.

Chris Grindlay said his products had "helped thousands of people".

"Slimbetti has 10000 likes on Facebook," he said.

The first ad Steinman complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about promised weight loss if users applied "Hoodia Slender Gel".

Steinman said there was no medical evidence that hoodia, a herbal extract, could be absorbed through the skin in the gel form.

Grindlay promised to provide scientific evidence that his products worked to The Times but failed to do so by the time of going to print.

The authority found there is "not a shred of evidence" to show that Slimbetti products work.

Grindlay blamed the authority for having too few staff to be able to interpret the evidence that his products worked.

"In Britain there is an advertising authority in every city."

He said the authority was not a legal body but a self-regulation organisation set up by Print Media SA to monitor adverts.

"I don't belong to the club," Grindlay said.

In April, the authority told members of Print Media SA not to accept Slimbetti advertising.

"Members are also advised that the advertiser has exhibited a pattern of disregard for the ASA code, and has been sanctioned for the same offence under the name Planet Hoodia," said the authority.

The Health Department has left the complementary and alternative medicines industry unregulated since 2002.