Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on rehab clinic referral companies. The ad was identified for investigation following complaints received from the Ethical Marketing Campaign for Addiction Treatment (EMCAT).
Ad description
A website for Rehab Guide, www.rehabguide.co.uk seen on 12 July 2024 included the claim “Free advice today" and “FREE SUPPORT FOR ALL ADDICTIONS”.
The website footer contained the text “Rehab Guide is a free help and assessment service to help you choose the best drug & alcohol rehab for you. We will give you guidance on the best treatment options for your circumstances”.
Issue
The complainant, Ethical Marketing Campaign for Addiction Treatment (EMCAT), challenged whether the ad falsely implied that the marketer was acting for purposes outside its business and did not make clear their commercial intent.
Response
Addiction Recovery Systems Ltd t/a Rehab Guide said they were dedicated to assisting enquirers to find services that aligned with their requirements and budget. They said most of their enquirers could not afford private services and they were committed to helping them navigate the social, NHS and charitable sectors to find help. They estimated that private individual referrals made up about 10% of their custom, with 90% of their income derived from corporate business services.
They said their free advice centre offered services over the phone, email and face-to-face when necessary. They received a consultation fee for referrals to private clinics. They also said that people and companies that chose residential rehab facilities paid the clinics directly, at the same cost they would if they contacted the clinic directly, so their services to the inquirer were free of charge.
They believed that their website clearly explained their business, that they were a free advice centre that also provided addiction treatment services, including medically supervised home detox, counselling services, sober companion services, coaching and psychotherapy.
Rehab Guide said they would make changes to their website following the investigation.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the homepage stated, “Rehab Guide is a free help and assessment service to help you choose the best drug & alcohol rehab for you. We will give you guidance on the best treatment options for your circumstances”, “FREE SUPPORT FOR ALL ADDICTIONS” and “Free advice today". We considered that consumers would have understood that Rehab Guide offered free help and advice with no commercial incentive.
We also considered the claims “At Rehab Guide, we provide professional alcohol and drug addiction treatment including detox, rehab and counselling – both in-patient and outpatient”, “our experienced advisors” and “all of our […] treatment centres” were likely to be understood by consumers to mean that in some circumstances they would provide residential treatment directly at clinics that they owned or operated, and did not exclusively refer consumers to other services for residential rehabilitation.
We noted Rehab Guide did signpost enquirers to free addiction services, and that they did provide a free advice centre and addiction treatment services. However, we understood that Rehab Guide was also a referral centre that placed consumers seeking help for addiction with third-party treatment providers and they received commission for doing so. The website did not prominently or explicitly make that clear, or that they did not provide in person residential treatment directly and that those treatments listed on the website would be from selected third party providers.
We welcomed Rehab Guides assurance that they would amend their website. However, the ad did not make clear that they received commission for referrals, placing and facilitating an individual’s stay in partner rehabilitation facilities, and instead suggested that they provided residential treatment directly at clinics that they owned or operated, as well as offering unbiased advice to those seeking help with addiction. We concluded, therefore, the ad implied that Rehab Guide were acting for purposes outside their business, and that it did not make clear their commercial intent, The ad therefore breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 2.3 (Recognition of Marketing Communications)
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Addiction Recovery Systems Ltd t/a Rehab Guide to ensure that their advertising did not falsely imply they were acting for purposes outside their business, not to imply that they provided residential treatment directly at clinics that they owned or operated if they did not and to make clear that they were a referral company that received commission for their service.
