Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on long COVID treatments, identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by the ASA. See also related rulings published on 30 August 2023.
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, one of which was Upheld. The other was informally resolved after the advertiser agreed to amend their advertising.
Ad description
A paid-for Facebook ad and an Instagram post for Jo Llewellyn, a craniosacral therapist:
a. The paid-for Facebook ad, posted on 12 February 2023, included text that stated, “Craniosacral therapists see patients for: […] long COVID […]”.
b. The Instagram post, posted 8 March 2023, included text that stated, “Craniosacral therapists treat: […] long COVID […]”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the claims that craniosacral therapists could treat long COVID were misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Jo Llewellyn Craniosacral Therapist said that many of their clients had symptoms of long COVID, but were all under the supervision of their GPs.
They said that, following notification of the investigation from the ASA, they acknowledged that they had underestimated the level of evidence that was required to make efficacy claims about their treatment and long COVID, and had removed the ads.
Assessment
Upheld
We considered consumers would understand the ads to mean that craniosacral therapy was an effective treatment for long COVID. We therefore expected to see robust scientific evidence to substantiate the claims.
We had seen no evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of craniosacral therapy as a treatment for long COVID. Whilst we welcomed Jo Llewellyn Craniosacral Therapist’s willingness to remove the posts, in the absence of such evidence, we concluded the ads were misleading and therefore breached the Code.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 12.1 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the forms complained of. We told Jo Llewellyn Craniosacral Therapist not to state or imply that craniosacral therapists could treat long COVID unless they held robust evidence to substantiate the claims.
