Rachel Weiss ad banned.

A L'Oreal advert featuring Rachel Weisz has been banned in the UK.

The Hollywood actress' image was used to promote the beauty product L’Oreal Revitalift Repair 10.

But the Advertising Standards Authority has deemed that the post-production techniques were a tad-heavy handed.

Rachel Weisz and the ad in question

It was Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson who first spotted the ad and
complained to the ASA. The industry body looked into the ad, which
features Mrs Daniel Craig looking flawless and imperfection-free, and deemed the final image to be misleading.

"We told L'Oreal Paris to ensure that they did not use
post-production techniques in a way that misrepresented what was
achievable using the advertised product. Although we considered that
the image in the ad did not misrepresent the luminosity or wrinkling of
Rachel Weisz's face, we considered that the image had been altered in a
way that substantially changed her complexion to make it appear
smoother and more even.

Rachel Weisz and her husband Daniel Craig"We
therefore concluded that the image in the ad misleadingly exaggerated
the performance of the product in relation to the claims 'SKIN LOOKS
SMOOTHER' and 'COMPLEXION
LOOKS MORE EVEN'."

Jo Swinson said of the ban: "The beauty and advertising industries need
to stop ripping off consumers with dishonest images. The banning of this
advert, along with the previous ASA rulings banning heavily retouched
ads featuring Twiggy, Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington,
should act as a wake-up call. Thankfully the advertising regulator has
again acknowledged the fraudulent nature of excessive retouching."

L'Oreal has defended the ad and said it "sought to represent Rachel
Weisz as favourably as possible and therefore every effort had gone into
ensuring the most flattering set-up".

We'll be interested to see if this changes advert practice in the future.

See more stars who advertise in the gallery below.

By Lisa Cowan

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I didn"t know Rachel was married to Daniel Craig......I remember her from the "Mummy" films and she looks nothing like that ad.