Ad description
A website ad, for the Good Night Anti Snoring Ring, www.goodnightsnoring.com, was headlined "Stop Snoring with the Good Night Anti Snoring Ring". Text below stated "Your Good Night Anti-Snoring Ring uses the tried and tested principles of acupressure to help you stop snoring. It applies light pressure on not one, but two specific points on your little finger ... This is the most natural, non-invasive way of stopping snoring and getting a great night's sleep for you and your partner, ensuring you awake fresh, invigorated and ready to face the challenges of the next day. The Good Night Anti-Snoring ring actually works!"
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the efficacy claims in could be substantiated.
Response
Good Night Snoring said there were no efficacy claims on the site and that it was made clear on the website that the ring was a possible solution to a snoring problem, that it was not suitable for sufferers of sleep apnoea, and that results may vary and the problem may persist. They said the product may not be successful in every case and, in such an event, they offered a refund and they had therefore been entirely open regarding the fact that the ring may not work in every case. They said they made no claims as to the product being universally successful. They said, because snoring was not recognised by the medical profession as a medical condition, the product did not require a high level of research and the product was non-invasive or intrusive. They submitted results from a telephone survey as part of a field trial, which they stated showed that 80% of the participants in the trial found an improvement in their sleep quality and 60% found an acupressure ring greatly reduced or stopped the snoring completely. They provided a letter from a consultant who had agreed to use the product on a long-term patient who benefitted from wearing the acupressure ring. They said acupuncture was widely recognised worldwide as a valid treatment for many ailments and therefore they believed it must have merit for a large number of people.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the ad contained claims such as "This is the most natural, non-invasive way of stopping snoring" and "The Good Night Anti-Snoring ring actually works!" In that context, we considered consumers would understand the ad to mean that the product itself had been demonstrated to stop snoring. We also considered that the product's name, "Good Night Anti Snoring Ring", implied that the product could cure snoring. We noted the results of the field trial but considered that self-assessment studies were unlikely to be acceptable to support claims related to physiological action in humans. We considered, however, that because telephone assessments could suffer from the absence of control data or bias or recall bias, results from telephone assessments were not adequate to demonstrate that the efficacy claims could be substantiated. Since we had not seen adequate evidence to show that the product stopped snoring, we considered the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
(Misleading advertising),
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) and
12.1
12.1
Objective claims must be backed by evidence, if relevant consisting of trials conducted on people. Substantiation will be assessed on the basis of the available scientific knowledge.
Medicinal or medical claims and indications may be made for a medicinal product that is licensed by the MHRA, VMD or under the auspices of the EMA, or for a CE-marked medical device. A medicinal claim is a claim that a product or its constituent(s) can be used with a view to making a medical diagnosis or can treat or prevent disease, including an injury, ailment or adverse condition, whether of body or mind, in human beings.
Secondary medicinal claims made for cosmetic products as defined in the appropriate European legislation must be backed by evidence. These are limited to any preventative action of the product and may not include claims to treat disease.
(Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ad must no longer appear. We told Good Night Snoring not to imply the Good Night Anti Snoring Ring could help treat snoring.
