Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on laser eye surgery referral companies. The ad was identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by our Active Ad Monitoring system.
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A paid-for Facebook ad for Health & Wellness, published on 23 May 2024, stated “Ready to enhance your vision? Find expert LASIK eye doctors nearby and explore advanced vision correction options tailored to individual needs. State-of-the-art technology and personalized care are accessible for those looking to improve their sight. Schedule a consultation today to learn more. The image below the caption showed a woman undergoing an eye exam, and included further text which stated, “HOW TO FIND CHEAP AND SAFE LASIK EYE SURGERY?” under which was a link labelled “See Details & Prices”. Further text under the image stated, “Enhance Your Vision: Expert LASIK Eye Doctors Nearby!” beside another link labelled “Learn more”.
The link led to a landing page which contained a series of additional links that stated, “Tradovate Memberships”, “Lasik Eye Surgery”, “Cataract Operation”, “Prk [sic] Surgery”, “Lasik Around Me” and “Specsavers Optometrist”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the:
- ads were misleading regarding the nature of the content that they linked through to, and that they falsely implied the marketer was acting for purposes outside its business; and
- claims “advanced vision correction options” and “State-of-the-art technology” were misleading.
Response
Health and Wellness did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Health and Wellness’ lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
1. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not falsely claim or imply that the marketer was acting for purposes outside its trade, business, craft or profession. It further stated that marketing communications must make clear their commercial intent if that was not obvious from the context.
The ad stated, “Find expert LASIK eye doctors nearby” and “Schedule a consultation today to learn more”. Further text in the ad stated, “HOW TO FIND CHEAP AND SAFE LASIK EYE SURGERY? See Details & Prices”. We considered that consumers would expect the ad to link directly to a page where they could access further information and prices on LASIK surgery, and schedule consultations with specific clinics.
However, when clicked on, the ad took consumers to a landing page that featured a number of subheadings: “Tradovate Memberships”, “Lasik Eye Surgery”, “Cataract Operation”, “Prk [sic] Surgery”, “Lasik Around Me” and “Specsavers Optometrist”. The landing page did not contain any further information about LASIK surgery or provide consumers with the opportunity to book a consultation.
Instead, we understood that the landing page for the ad was a ‘parked domain’ website set up by Health and Wellness. We understood that domain parking was the registration of an internet domain name without that domain being associated with services such as email or a website. Domain parking could be done for various reasons, including reserving the domain name for future development or to protect the domain name from use by others. Domain parking could also be monetised by operating a single-page website which hosted ads, as was the case here. Ads which linked through to the parked domain website would then generate income from the host of the parked domain through the impressions it collected.
The ad therefore misleadingly implied that, when clicked on, it would direct consumers to information on LASIK surgery, including prices and how to schedule consultations, when that was not the case. We considered the nature of the content the ad linked through to would likely have a significant impact on whether or not consumers chose to engage with them. We therefore considered that the nature of the content to which the ad linked through to should have been made clear and, because it did not do so, we concluded the ad was misleading.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 2.3 (Recognition of marketing communications) and 3.1 (Misleading advertising).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product. Guidance on ads for laser eye surgery published by CAP stated that marketers should be careful when making claims about how advanced or innovative their procedures were.
The ad included the claims “advanced vision correction options” and “State-of-the-art technology”, and we considered consumers were likely to understand the advertised laser eye treatment was a new and innovative type of laser eye surgery and that it was more advanced than those available from other laser eye surgery providers. We therefore expected Lasik Eyes would be able to demonstrate that their advertised procedure was an innovative form of laser eye surgery.
However, we did not receive any evidence to substantiate the claims made in the ad. We therefore concluded that the claims were misleading.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.11 (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Health and Wellness to ensure that their ads did not mislead consumers as to the nature of the content they would receive if they engaged with them. Ads for parked domain sites should make clear if the only content consumers would be served with by clicking on the ad would be more ads or links to search results. We also told them to ensure that future marketing materials did not misleadingly exaggerate the capability of LASIK treatment. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
