Estee Lauder fined 400,000 yuan for false promotion

Estee Lauder has been fined 400,000 yuan (US$61,920) for false promotion by the city's market regulators.

In one promotion of Clinique on Tmall, Clinique's fresh pressed daily booster was claimed to have the effect of improving pockmarks and reducing wrinkles within four weeks and improving the healing power of skin within 12 weeks.

But, according to the Jing'an District Administration for Market Regulation, Clinique could not provide enough proof to support its hyped-up claims.

The company's action misled consumers and violated China's anti-unfair competition law, it added.

In another case involving the American multinational company and also promoted on Tmall, its brand Origins claimed that its plantscription powerful lifting cream was effective in healing wounds and removing wrinkles.

However, Estee Lauder could not provide laboratory reports released by professional agencies to support the claims, the administration noted.