ASA Adjudication on Christian Voice

Ad

An advertising feature in the New Statesman, on behalf of a religious group, had the headline "VIOLENT CRIME - SOWING AND REAPING". Text underneath stated "There is a Biblical principle that we reap what we sow. It applies to nations as well as to individuals. What politicians sow, the people reap. When politicians sow evil, the people reap misery, and the poorest reap it the worst". The ad went on to describe what the advertisers considered to be the detrimental impact of government policies and various pieces of legislation on society. It included the text "Now we have the disaster of teenage infertility. Every government initiative, including the HPV vaccine, will increase it, but as all the targets revolve around pregnancy, no-one in power knows how many young people they are making sterile and nobody cares". Text at the bottom of the ad stated "Christian Voice. Working for Godly government; praying for national repentance".

Issue

One complainant challenged whether the implied claim that the HPV vaccine would result in teenage infertility was misleading and could be substantiated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Christian Voice argued that the claim was an expression of their opinion, and that their right to express that opinion was protected by The Human Rights Act 1998.

Christian Voice provided a link to a page on their website, which they said gave evidence of the failure of the government's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. They said it was clear from national statistics that the approach of successive governments on teenage sexuality have preceded, or at least coincided with, growing levels of teenage conceptions, abortions and sexually-transmitted infections.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Christian Voice's response. We considered, however, that the claim "Every government initiative, including the HPV vaccine, will increase it [teenage infertility]" was a statement of fact that was a matter open to substantiation. We noted the webpage submitted by Christian Voice, but we did not consider that that webpage in itself was sufficient to support the claim. Because we had not seen robust, scientific evidence that the HPV vaccine caused infertility in teenagers, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Principles), 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Christian Voice not to repeat the implied claim that the HPV vaccine would result in teenage infertility.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)