'Hang it on your neck to remove viruses' — Toa Sangyo's pendant had no proof

At the start of the pandemic, Toa Sangyo sold 'Virus Shut Out' — a pendant worn around the neck — on its own website and its Rakuten Ichiba page. Between 26 February and 10 March 2020 the advertising promised 'Emergency virus countermeasure!!', 'Protects you from epidemic viruses!', and claimed that chlorine-dioxide-based ingredients 'remove viruses and bacteria floating around you', beside visuals of viruses drifting around the wearer. The headline: just hang it on your neck to remove the viruses in the space.

The Consumer Affairs Agency demanded substantiation, and the documents Toa Sangyo submitted were not accepted as reasonable grounds for the claims. A small disclaimer — 'effects vary depending on the usage environment' — did not cancel the message out. The displays were ruled misleading representations of superiority.

On 30 January 2025 the CAA ordered Toa Sangyo to pay a surcharge of 16,510,000 yen — 3% of the product's sales during the violation period, payable by 1 September 2025. The order came five years after the ads ran, but the surcharge regime reaches back: sales made on the strength of an unsubstantiated claim stay billable long after the fear that drove them has passed.