Procter & Gamble (P&G) China said in a statement sent to Shanghai Daily yesterday that it has never made any claims about "lifelong effects" in any of its shampoo commercials in China, as a Zhejiang local government alleged in a press release.

The Zhejiang Ningbo Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau on Wednesday banned P&G's commercial for its Pantene V shampoo, on the basis that claims of the product being able to replenish hair amino acids thereby making it 10 times more resilient violated advertising laws.

"We express shock and apprehension at the fact that the Zhejiang Ningbo bureau went to the media directly without prior communication with P&G and in the absence of a final conclusion on the commercials in question," the company's statement said.

The company also said it can support the amino acid and increased resiliency claims with lab test results conducted in-house as well as by an authoritative testing organization in China.

Shanghai advertising authorities said they are also looking into the matter.

In related news, a McDonald's commercial was pulled earlier this week in several cities including Shanghai, because of a scene that had a customer on his knees begging for a discount, which was deemed culturally insensitive.

(Shanghai Daily, Xinhua News Agency, June 24, 2005)