ASA Adjudication on Darulshafa Shirqia

Ad

A TV ad, in Urdu, for a herbal practitioner showed a man limping into a clinic. The ad featured scenes of the clinic staff and then showed the same man playing football with a group of boys. The voice-over stated "Darulshafa herbal clinic has been established in the UK for 41 years. Mr Mazhar Rana is a qualified herbalist and has been practicing for the past 23 years ... All our remedies are prepared using herbs from all over the world and to the finest standards possible. For treatment in good time contact us today". On-screen text throughout the ad gave the contact details for clinics in Bradford, London and Birmingham, as well as a website address. One of the staff members stated "Darulshafa. Renewing traditions, inspiring quality".

Issue

One viewer, a medical doctor, challenged whether the implied claim that the advertiser's herbal remedies could treat and cure medical conditions could be substantiated.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Darulshafa Shirqia (Darulshafa) said their practitioners were qualified herbalists and homeopaths who only offered treatments to patients after a detailed face-to-face consultation. Darulshafa argued that there was no reference in the ad to the man having used or benefited from any treatments or remedies that they offered, and they suggested that the ad could imply that the man had been advised to exercise more. They pointed out that the man was not shown in consultation with a practitioner or using any remedies, and that there were no direct or implied references to 'cures' nor any suggestion that people should not seek appropriate medical advice where necessary.

Venus TV said the ad did not claim to cure any particular illness, but provided the history of Darulshafa and contact details of their branches. They said there was no reference in the ad to any particular product or any cures brought about by a product. Venus TV said there was no suggestion that the man in the ad had received any particular product that allowed him to play football, or that he could not play football beforehand. They said they did not believe the ad would mislead viewers.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that the scene of the man limping into the clinic, followed by the scene of the same man playing football, implied that he had a medical condition that had been treated at the clinic. We considered that impression was reinforced by the claim "All our remedies are prepared using herbs from all over the world and to the finest standards possible. For treatment in good time contact us today", which was spoken over the scene of the man playing football, and which we considered suggested that the man had been treated using herbal remedies.

Furthermore, we were concerned that some viewers might consider the man had not only been treated but cured of his medical condition. We considered that, unless allowed by a marketing authorisation, illustrations that implied a cure of any medical condition were unacceptable. We were also concerned that, by offering a treatment or cure for a medical condition, the ad gave the impression that a medical consultation was not necessary for conditions for which qualified medical advice should be sought.

We noted that we had not seen any evidence that showed that the herbal remedies provided by Darulshafa could treat or cure medical conditions or that they held a marketing authorisation, and we therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1 (Misleading advertising), 8.2.6 and 8.2.9 (Medicinal products and treatments).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)