ASA Adjudication on Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic

Ad

A leaflet for a Chiropractic clinic had the headline "For A Complete Health Care Solution". Text underneath stated "Chiropractic is the science, art and philosophy with the unique approach of looking to the CAUSE of the disease/problem and not just treatment of the symptoms. The Gonstead Chiropractor examines the spine, extremities and nervous system with a detailed "hands on" assessment of the verteberal column and its contiguous structures for the diagnosis of Subluxation ... The Gonstead System of Chiropractic established in 1923 represents arguably the ultimate standard in "hands on" spinal adjusting and remains the leader in Chiropractic techniques due to the lengthy training a Gonstead Doctor receives. Chiropractic care goes far beyond a simple system of "putting vertebrae back in place" at the Gonstead Clinic. It is, rather, a scientific programme of carefully analysing the patient and their health problems on the basis of available information and then deciding on the proper corrective steps".

Issue

The General Chiropractic Council challenged whether the claim "The Gonstead System of Chiropractic ... remains the leader in Chiropractic techniques due to the lengthy training a Gonstead Doctor receives" was misleading and could be substantiated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA was concerned by Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code clause 2.6 (Non-response). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.

In the absence of any response or evidence to substantiate the claim made in the ad, we considered that the claim had not been proven. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.6 (Non-response), 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 19.1 (Other comparisons).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its curent form. We told Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic not to make similar claims in future advertising. We urged them to seek guidance from the CAP Copy Advice team before advertising again and asked CAP to inform its members of the problem with Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)