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). See other rulings published on 18 December 2024.
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A website for Compare Rehab, www.compare.rehab, seen in July 2024. Text at the top of the home page stated, “Helping You Find An Addiction Rehab Centre in The UK. Start exploring drug and alcohol rehabs today. Treatment providers are available to answer your questions”, followed by a contact phone number. Text under the subheading “Addiction Rehabilitation Clinic Offers Paths To Recovery” stated, “During the recovery process in our rehabilitation centre, we implement numerous treatment methods frequently in combination with one another. Each person’s treatment plan will be different, and it will be adapted to their specific needs and circumstances.” Text at the bottom of the page stated, “We do not offer specific health advice. We are not an RCA (Remote Clinical Advice service). With your consent we pass your details to our partners that can offer this and take a fee if you begin treatment with a fee-paying provider”, followed by a link to a terms and conditions page with further information.
Another page on the website titled “All listings”, found under the tab “Find Rehab” on the home page, featured headline text which stated, “Find Addiction Treatment in your area”. A subheading beneath that stated, “Find Alcohol and Drug Rehab Near You”, followed by a list of UK counties.
The website also featured an "About Compare Rehab” page. Text under the subheading “How we work” stated, “The free helpline offers a discreet and helpful solution for anyone seeking addiction treatment for themselves or a loved one. Our compassionate counsellors and advisors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to talk about your addiction treatment options.” Further text, under the subheading “Our partnerships”, stated, “We have access to an extensive network of rehabilitation centres all around the United Kingdom. We collaborate with private rehabilitation centres, the NHS, and even a few ‘luxury rehabilitation’ centres. We can recommend patients to rehabilitation centres, and we always put the individual patient’s needs first.”
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; and
- claims “Find Rehab” and “All listings” misleadingly implied local treatment facilities could be accessed via the website.
Response
1. & 2. Marren Healthcare Ltd t/a Compare Rehab confirmed that they exclusively operated as a referral centre. They confirmed that they did not provide any direct addiction therapy or healthcare services, and did not employ healthcare professionals. Compare Rehab said they had been unaware of the requirements of the CAP Code, and that they were willing to work with the ASA to make any changes required.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA noted that the home page stated, “During the recovery process in our rehabilitation centre, we implement numerous treatment methods […] Each person’s treatment plan will be different, and it will be adapted to their specific needs and circumstances.” Beneath that it listed various treatment services, including “Alcohol & Drug Detox”, “Rehab Treatment” and “Addiction Therapy”. We also noted the claims made in the “About Us” page of the website that “Our compassionate counsellors and advisors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to talk about your addiction treatment options” and “Our UK rehab centre network comprises experts in every type of addiction”. We considered that consumers were therefore likely to understand that Compare Rehab provided treatment directly at clinics they operated or owned.
We understood however that Compare Rehab functioned as a referral centre that connected consumers seeking help for addiction with registered treatment providers, and that they received commission for doing so. We acknowledged that text at the bottom of the website’s homepage, the “All listings” page and the “About Us” page stated that Compare Rehab did not offer specific health advice, were not a remote clinical advice service, and that they passed consumer’s details on to their partner organisations who offered such services, for a potential fee if treatment was initiated. However, because that information was located at the bottom of each of those pages, we considered it was likely to be overlooked; the ad did not prominently or explicitly make clear what their business model was or how they were funded.
We welcomed Compare Rehab’s willingness to make changes to their website. However, the ad did not make immediately clear that they were principally a referral company that received commission for placements with partner rehabilitation facilities, but instead suggested they provided treatment directly at clinics that they owned or operated. We concluded, therefore, that the ad implied that Compare Rehab were acting for purposes outside their business, and did not make clear their commercial intent, and therefore breached the Code.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 2.3 (Recognition of Marketing Communications).
2. Upheld
The “Find Rehab” tab seen at the top of the website included a link titled “All listings”, which led to a page that featured the claims “Find Addiction Treatment in your area” and “Find Alcohol and Drug Rehab Near You”. Further text underneath those claims stated, “No matter where you live, there are drug and alcohol rehab options for you to discover. Treatment providers are waiting to answer your questions. Get started today.” That was followed by a list of hyperlinks for 47 counties in the UK.
We considered that consumers were likely to understand those claims to mean that the page would either provide specific details of rehabilitation centres or services they could access via Compare Rehab in each of those counties, or that the individual county information pages linked to from that page would provide such information.
Separate sections for NHS treatment provided differing levels of local detail, such as local free services for addiction, drop-in groups, outreach programmes, NHS Foundation services, liaison groups and local charities. However, the “All listings” page contained no specific information about rehabilitation centres. The individual county pages included sections for private rehabilitation centres in the relevant area, but they contained no specific information on rehabilitation centres or services, and instead provided a general overview of how private and residential services worked.
Because neither the “All listings” or county-specific pages listed specific details of private rehabilitation centres that could be accessed by Compare Rehab in the local areas, as implied, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 3.1 (Misleading Advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Marren Healthcare Ltd t/a Compare Rehab to ensure that future marketing materials did not falsely imply they were acting for purposes outside their business, not to imply that they owned clinics if they did not, and to make clear that they were a referral company that received commission for their service. In addition, they should not make claims that local rehab centres could be accessed using their website, if that was not the case.
