The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a Rimmel TV advert featuring model and actor Cara Delevingne, on the grounds that it is "misleading".



The UK's advertising watchdog said the cosmetics giant had broken the rules by misleading consumers and exaggerating "the effect the product was capable of achieving" using "post-production techniques".



The advert, which appeared in December, promoted the brand's "Scandaleyes Reloaded" mascara, which retails at around £6.99.



In response to the ASA, Coty, the company that owns the Rimmel brand, defended the advert.



It said that while it had used false eyelashes "to fill in gaps and to create a uniform lash line" and had "re-drawn" some lashes in post-production "where they were not visible due to the model’s dark eyeshadow", the advert nonetheless provided an "accurate representation of the product."



It provided the ASA with before and after pictures featuring Delevingne's own lashes with the mascara applied and said they were similar.



The watchdog, however, said the techniques were likely to "exaggerate the effect beyond what could be achieved by the product among consumers" and that the ad should not appear again in its current form.



A spokesperson for Coty told BuzzFeed News: "While we regret the decision of the ASA, we will of course comply with the ruling and not air the TV commercial again in this state."