A Chinese woman has filed a lawsuit against cosmetics manufacturer Procter & Gamble (P&G) China for an advertisement claming one of its products could "make one 12 years younger."

Lu Ping, from South China's Jiangxi Province, also accused the product's publicist, Hong Kong film star Carina Lau, of fraud.

Lau said in the advertisement that the company's SKII de-wrinkle cream could reduce one's wrinkles by 47 percent and make one 12 years younger if used for 28 successive days.

Lu Ping said she believed in Lau and bought the SKII de-wrinkle cream for 840 yuan (US$102). However, rather than improve her skin, the cream made her skin itch and ache, Lu Ping said.

Lu also took the department store where she bought the product and the product's dealer to court.

The cream contained NaOH, a corrosive chemical commonly used in cosmetics. The product's label listed the element in Japanese, but not in Chinese, said Tang Wei, Lu's agent.

Lu demanded the defendants refund the price of the product, pay 1,000-yuan compensation for mental stress and an undisclosed amount for medical treatment.

A court in Nanchang City, capital of Jiangxi, would hear the claim April 1, said Tang.

A spokesman for P&G China said the product's sales were not influenced by the case, but the company had recalled all the publicity leaflets containing the controversial advertisement.

The Nanchang Municipal Industrial and Commercial Bureau had kept some SKII products for further investigation and ordered the company to submit data proving the authenticity of the data cited in the advertisement, said the spokesman.

(Shenzhen Daily March 16, 2005)