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 website for Serenity Acupuncture:
a. The paid-for Facebook ad, seen in February 2023, stated, “A Natural Way to Heal […] Acupuncture can safely be used for the following conditions and so much more […] Long Covid […]”.
b. The website www.serenityacupuncture.co.uk, seen on 25 May 2023, included the heading, “Serenity Acupuncture A natural way to heal”. Further down the page, under the heading “How can acupuncture help you?”, text stated “As well as keeping you well Acupuncture can be used to treat a wide range of conditions. Common conditions treated include: […] Long Covid […]”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the claims that acupuncture could treat long COVID were misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Serenity Acupuncture said that they referred to the British Acupuncture Council (BAC) when making efficacy claims in their advertising and provided a link to one of the BAC’s resources on long COVID and acupuncture. They would remove the Facebook ad and amend the claims on their website.
Assessment
Upheld
We considered consumers would understand the ads to mean that acupuncture was an effective treatment for long COVID. We therefore expected to see robust scientific evidence to substantiate the claims.
We assessed the evidence provided. Serenity Acupuncture provided a link to a resource by the British Acupuncture Council on long COVID. It outlined their position on acupuncture and its effects on the immune system, but stated that although they had started collecting data to measure the effect of acupuncture on long COVID, it was too early for results from clinical trials. In any case, we did not consider that a resource was sufficient evidence to substantiate efficacy claims that acupuncture could treat long COVID.
Whilst we welcomed Serenity Acupuncture’s willingness to remove ad (a) and to amend their website, in the absence of evidence to substantiate the claims that acupuncture could treat long COVID, 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 Serenity Acupuncture not to state or imply that acupuncture could be used to treat long COVID unless they held robust evidence to substantiate the claims.
