ASA Non-broadcast Adjudication: Sultana Begum

Complaint

The London Free Homeopathic Health Centre objected to an ad in a weekly local paper, in Bengali, for homeopathy. The text, when translated into English, read "The consultant physician ... is devoted to the treatment of patients suffering from complex or critical diseases" and went on to list conditions such as asthma, gastric ulcer and obesity.

1. The complainants challenged whether the advertiser was qualified to practise homeopathy.

The ASA challenged:

2. whether, by using the prefix "Dr", the ad misleadingly implied the advertiser had a general medical qualification or, if the prefix referred to her homeopathic qualifications, whether the extent of her experience had been exaggerated and

3. whether the references to serious medical conditions could discourage readers from seeking advice from suitably qualified professionals.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Adjudication

Complaint upheld

Ms Begum did not respond to our enquiries.

We were concerned by Ms Begum's lack of response and apparent disregard for the CAP Code. We reminded her of her responsibility to respond to our enquiries and asked her to do so promptly in future. Because Ms Begum did not submit substantiation to prove she held a general medical qualification and was qualified to practice homeopathy, we concluded that the prefix "Dr" and the implication that the advertiser was qualified to practise homeopathy were misleading. We were also concerned that the references to asthma, gastric ulcer and obesity could discourage people from seeking advice from suitably qualified medical professionals. We told Ms Begum to withdraw the ad and asked CAP to inform its members of her conduct.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.6 (Non-response), 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 50.3, 50.6 and 50.19 (Health and beauty).