Commercial:

Celtrixa TV commercial

Description:

Celtrixa is a cream for stretch marks

Partial transcript:

Hey ladies.  It’s time to stop hiding your unattractive stretch marks and join the thousands of women participating in Celtrixa’s nationwide un-coverup.  That’s right, we’re going to help you uncover beautiful, smooth skin, buy offering anyone that calls in the next 5 minutes, a risk free trial of Celtrixa Intensive.  While supplies last.  Call immediately to participate in the Celtrixa un-coverup and watch your stretch marks fade from view.   Plus, for accelerated results we’ll throw in our sonic microderm brush as our free gift to you.  This luxurious brush will exfoliate, smooth and renew your skin.  Valued at $60, now it can be yours free with your Celtrixa trial.  Celtrixa’s clinically proven for even the deepest, darkest, longest lasting stretch marks anywhere on the body.  Don’t cover up your stretch marsk, uncover smooth sexy skin.  Participate in the Celtrixa un-coverup.  Get your risk free trial and free sonic microderm brush.  But call in the next 5 minutes.  When this offer’s gone, it’s gone.

Words or claims in this TV commercial and what they really mean:

It’s time to stop hiding your unattractive stretch marks and join the thousands of women participating in Celtrixa’s nationwide un-coverup.  …we’re going to help you uncover beautiful, smooth skin:  Some might confuse this to mean that by using Celtrixa or participating in the Celtrixa “trial” or “un-coverup” that Celtrixa will make their stretch marks go away or that Celtrixa will help to uncover smooth beautiful skin where they currently have stretch marks.  But, what the commercial really says is “many other women have participated in the nationwide un-coverup” and, the Celtrixa company is going to help “uncover beautiful, smooth skin”.  At this point the TV commercial does not actually say that Celtrixa will remove stretch marks, or have any affect whatsoever on your skin.

Offering anyone that calls in the next 5 minutes/call immediately participate in the Celtrixa un-coverup:  Some people that view this TV commercial might assume that this means they only have 5 minutes to call in for this exclusive offer.  This seems to be further apparent later in the commercial when we see the 5-minute countdown timer on the screen.  In reality, anyone that calls in the next 5 minutes will get this offer, but it does not mean that the offer is only good for 5 minutes.  Anyone can go to the Celtrixa website, day or night, and order a ‘risk free’ trial of Celtrixa.

risk free trial of Celtrixa Intensive:  In very small print the words “shipping & processing, return postage extra.  Auto-ship and other terms & conditions apply”.  This means that for your “risk free” Celtrixa, you will have to pay shipping fees, processing fees, and the postage to return your unused Celtrixa.  Here is the full wording of the other terms and conditions from the Celtrixa website:

Please send me a 3-month supply of Celtrixa to try risk free for 30-days. I will be billed S&P $7.95 today. With the 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee, I just have to call within 30 days of receipt and then have 2 weeks to return the products to avoid additional charges. If I keep the products, I will be billed three payments of $59.95, 30 days, 60 days and 90 days following receipt of my shipment. Then unless I cancel, I will continue to receive a new 90 day supply every 3 months for just 3 monthly payments of $59.95 per shipment plus $7.95 S&P which will be billed to the card I provide today. By clicking “Yes! Start My Trial”, I authorize Celtrixa to charge my card for each shipment as described above. Local and state sales tax may apply. I can call customer service at any time to cancel. My 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee covers every shipment of Celtrixa.

What these terms and conditions mean:

• Your credit card will be billed $7.95 today
• You have to call in to cancel within 30 days
• If you do not cancel AND RETURN the Celtrixa your credit card will be automatically billed $179 every 90 days plus $23.18 every 90 days for shipping and processing totaling over $800 per year
• If you do return the products in time, you do not get back your $7.95 shipping and processing fee

As you can see, there are several terms and conditions that you must abide by for your “risk free” offer.  Additionally, you will not receive your $7.95 back and you have to pay to postage to send back the Celtrixa.  By our math, this means that you are risking at least $7.95 for this risk free offer.

Watch your stretch marks fade from view:  Later in the commercial we see very fine print that this claim is backed by a clinical study of 30 people who showed an average decrease of 66% in the appearance of stretch marks after 12 weeks.   This means that based on this very small, near statistically insignificant study, after just under 3 months you may see stretch marks fade, but only by about 66% (on average) and only after using Celtrixa for 12 weeks.  There is no clinical data that indicates Celtrixa will remove stretch marks, and the TV commercial is very careful to never claim that it will remove stretch marks.

This luxurious [free Sonic Microderm] brush will exfoliate, smooth and renew your skin:  Although the Sonic Microderm may in fact exfoliate, smooth and renew your skin (even though no evidence is provided to back this claim) the commercial does not state that these things have anything to do with removing or fading your stretch marks other than “for accelerated results”.  The commercial never specifies what results will be ‘accelerated’.  Some people may assume or be confused into thinking that by using the Sonic Microderm brush, this will speed up the removal of stretch marks but that is not what is said in the commercial.

Valued at $60 now it [the Sonic Microderm brush] can be yours free:  The TV commercial does not specify the brand or maker of this particular Microderm brush so it is not possible to determine if it truly has a value of $60.

Don’t cover up your stretch marks, uncover smooth, sexy skin: Some viewers may assume this statement means that by using Celtrixa, you will get smooth, sexy skin, but this is not what is said.  What is stated is a statement: Don’t cover up your stretch marks, uncover smooth sexy skin . It is not stated that Celtrixa will help to do this, it is, simply a statement, or a recommendation.

Visuals during the TV commercial:  During virtually the entire commercial we see beautiful women showing perfect skin on perfect tummies, arms, and legs, acting completely surprised at how perfect their skin now looks as if to make a viewer think that Celtrixa made their stretch marks go away, reveling perfect, stretch mark-free skin.  During this time, in very fine print the legally required word “Dramatization” is displayed.  This means that the people and skin you see in the commercial are not actual results from using Celtrixa, and more likely, these actors have never had a stretch mark in their life.  This could be very misleading to anyone that does not see the very small “dramatization” disclaimer or does not understand what it means.

Summary:

The Celtrixa commercial makes many statements and displays many images that could be very misleading to many viewers.  The commercial has wording that might confuse many viewers into thinking they only have 5 minutes to qualify for the “risk-free trial”, and the “risk free trial” by our math, is not risk free.  Overall this TV commercial qualifies as one of the most potentially deceitful ones we have seen yet.