ASA Adjudication on North of Tyne Primary Care Trust

Ad

A TV ad for a NHS sexual health campaign showed a young man and woman arriving at a bar, greeting friends. A voice-over stated "There's something about these two people, something you can't see. Is it his natural charm? Her fashion sense?" The man winked at the camera and other people admired the woman's clothes. The voiceover continued "Or are they just the coolest? No, one of them's got chlamydia". After the sound of a record being scratched, the music soundtrack stopped abruptly; both characters stopped smiling and began to look uncomfortable. Text appeared on-screen: "chlamydia up to 1 in 10 sexually active people under 25 have chlamydia". A website address was shown "www.checkyourbits.org". The voice-over continued "Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted infection that people often don't know they have. It's easy to test and easy to treat. If you're under 25 you can apply for a test by post". A test kit and an envelope were shown on-screen and were handed to the man and woman, who started to look relieved. The voice-over stated "So help beat the bug, text Gremlin your name and address to 80010 now". On-screen text throughout the ad stated "For a testing kit text GREMLIN, your name & address to XXXXX".

Issue

The ASA challenged whether Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Chlamydia Screening Office (NTWCSO), who were part of the NHS and who produced the ad, could substantiate the claim "up to 1 in 10 sexually active people under 25 have chlamydia".

BCAP TV Code

Response

NTWCSO pointed to the statement "Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) and there is evidence that up to one in 10 young people aged under 25 may be infected" in the Government's 2005 White Paper on Public Health.  They said that information was included in all their publicity material.

They sent the Annual Report of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme in England 2006-07.  It stated that screening of people under the age of 25 was increasing year on year and they achieved 150,000 screens in the fourth year of the programme.  It also stated "We are continuing to see a positivity rate of around 10% in those screened for both young men and women under the age of 25" and provided statistics to support that statement.

NTWCSO also sent the Annual Report of the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Chlamydia Screening Programme 2007-08, which stated that on average 4.9% of 15- to 24-year-olds were screened in England in 2007-08, but did not provide the positivity results of those tests.

Clearcast explained that, before clearing the ad for broadcast, they had sent the substantiation for its claims to their consultant, who was satisfied with the accuracy of the statement about the frequency of infection in young people.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted the ad had been broadcast only in the Tyne Tees and Yorkshire regions.  However, we considered that the statement "up to 1 in 10 sexually active people under 25 have chlamydia" was likely to be seen by viewers as applying to young people across the UK as a whole.

We noted the Annual Report of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme in England 2006-07 gave details of the proportion of the under 25-year-old population screened.  It showed that, in all areas of the country except for Lewisham, Cornwall and Lambeth, fewer than 10% of people aged under 25 were screened.  In the majority of areas, fewer than 1% were screened.  In few areas were more than 4% screened.

However, we noted that the positivity rate was approximately 10% in those screened in England and the ad stated "up to" one in 10 sexually active people under 25 had chlamydia, which was likely to be seen as implying the positivity rate might be less than 10% in some areas.  We also noted the Governments 2005 White Paper on Public Health stated that there was evidence that up to one in 10 young people aged under 25 might be infected.  We concluded that the claim "up to 1 in 10 sexually active people under 25 have chlamydia" was unlikely to mislead.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules (old) 5.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.1 (Evidence) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)