ASA Adjudication on HowToStopStutter.com

Ad

An Internet ad, for HowToStopStutter.com, stated "Cure For Stammering How to overcome the stress and emotional heartaches of a stutter ...".

Issue

The British Stammering Association, who said stammering was a neurological condition which could not be cured, thought the ads gave the misleading impression that stammering could easily be cured.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

HowToStopStutter.com did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA was concerned by HowToStopStutter.com'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.

Although we understood it was sometimes possible for stammering to be managed and controlled, we considered that the ad's reference to "cure" was problematic, because it suggested the advertised program could entirely eliminate stammering.  We understood this would be a breakthrough claim and would therefore require a body of robust evidence, consisting of clinical trials conducted on people, in order to support it.  We had seen no such evidence.  Moreover, we noted the Code stated that unqualified claims such as 'cure' were not generally acceptable.  

We concluded that, in the absence of such evidence to support the claim, the ad was likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.6 (Non-response), 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), 50.1 and 50.7 (Health & beauty products and therapies - General).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.  We asked HowToStopStutter.com to seek guidance from the CAP Copy Advice team before advertising their program again, and asked CAP to inform its members of the problem with HowToStopStutter.com.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)