Ad description

Claims on www.fitnessindustrytraining.org.uk stated "Welcome to Fitness Industry Training - the UK's largest provider of health and leisure industry qualifications … Our aim is to create the very best fitness professionals, delivering courses that are recognised by employers". Further text on the "Courses" page stated "LEVEL 5 ADVANCED DIPLOMA REGISTERED NUTRITIONIST … Course Outline.  Accredited By: The College for Nutrition Level: Level 5 Advanced Diploma".

Issue

The Association of Nutrition challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that consumers would receive a recognised qualification if they took part in the "Level 5 Advanced Diploma" course.

Response

Fitness Industry Training (UK) Ltd said that the term "nutritionist" was not a protected title under statutory legislation and, therefore, anyone could refer to themselves as a "nutritionist", without having adequate training or experience. They said various registers had been developed for nutritionists with their own entry criteria and they held the UK licence to provide courses for the College for Nutrition. They explained that to become registered with the College for Nutrition, nutritionists would have to complete the Level 5 Registered Nutritionist course and agree to comply with the ethics and complaints procedure. They said they had undergone an external quality check to ensure their organisation, and the courses they offer, met certain quality criteria and, following a quality audit by external inspectors and a regular review of courses, the Level 5 Advanced Diploma Registered Nutritionist course had been endorsed under the College for Nutrition Quality Licence Scheme. They said the learning outcomes of the course had been benchmarked at Level 5 against level descriptors published by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulations (Ofqual), to ensure that the level of difficulty for the learner was accurately reflected. They said, because the profession was non-regulated, there was no formally recognised qualification, but they said they would add further information to their website explaining the nature of the diploma.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered consumers would interpret the claim "Level 5 Advanced Diploma", in the context of claims such as "REGISTERED NUTRITIONIST" and "Accredited By: The College for Nutrition", to mean that the qualification was accredited, and recognised as being of an "advanced" level, by an independent awarding body and listed on Ofqual's register of recognised qualifications. We considered the claims that Fitness Industry Training provided "health and leisure industry qualifications" and delivered "courses that are recognised by employers" contributed to that impression, and consumers would interpret the ad to mean that obtaining the qualification would enable them to demonstrate that they had reached a prescribed standard of training. While we understood Fitness Industry Training said that the course was provided by the College for Nutrition and had undergone external quality checks, we noted we had not seen evidence to demonstrate that, or that the College for Nutrition was an official awarding organisation. The College for Nutrition was not listed as an organisation on Ofqual's register and we had not seen evidence to demonstrate that the award had been benchmarked against level descriptors by Ofqual. In the absence of that information, we considered that a disclaimer on the website explaining the nature of the diploma would contradict the likely interpretation of the claim in that context. Because Fitness Industry Training did not provide sufficient evidence to substantiate the claim, we concluded the ad was misleading.  

Investigated under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading advertising) and  3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.  (Substantiation).

Action

The ad must not appear in its current form. We told Fitness Industry Training (UK) Ltd not to misleadingly imply their qualifications were accredited or recognised by an official organisation.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.7    


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