Ad description
A magazine ad for tanning clinic Consol, seen on 8 January 2019. A heading at the top of the page stated “Are you feeling sad this winter?” A subheading stated “It’s not surprising with the lack of daylight, sunshine and warmth. We get up to work in the dark, return home in the dark and the only daylight we see is out…of the office window. A lack of sunlight can not only make us feel a little sad but seriously, it can give us SAD.” Text beneath that stated “Seasonal Affective Disorder, also known as Winter Depression is caused by a part of the brain not working properly, due to exposure to sunshine. The symptoms can range from rapid to severe and can include a low mood and depression, irritability, complete lack of energy and drive, cravings for carbohydrates, weight gain and wanting to sleep longer than usual. If you’re finding yourself swapping the treadmill and your five a day for a bowl of pasta on the sofa in the evenings, SAD could just be at the root of the cause. A range of treatments are recommended for SAD including getting as much sunlight as possible, exercising regularly and managing stress levels. Some GPs will even prescribe a light box to mimic sunlight to ease symptoms of the conditions. At Consol getting your dose of winter sunshine has never been easier. We operate with world class sunbeds from the leading supplier Ergoline and unrivalled tube technology. All of tubes [sic] operate the safe limit of 0.3 which has been measured to be the same as the Mediterranean midday sunshine and promotes deep tanning without the risk of burning. In addition to benefitting from a little sunlight in the winter, UV light is also the best source of Vitamin D on the planet and between the months of October and March in the UK, we are unable to make any of the sunshine Vitamin at all due to the absence and weakness of the outdoor rays. Vitamin D itself has been attributed to the prevention of plenty of diseases including … depression, high blood pressure… fibromyalgia… Seasonal Affective Disorder, PMS, arthritis, psoriasis, diabetes and osteoporosis. UV exposure can also improve energy, enhance appearance, promote clear and even skin tone, cure skin complaints such as psoriasis, acne, eczema and elevate mood.”
Issue
The complainant challenged whether:
1. the claims that Vitamin D and UV exposure produced through the use of sunbeds could be used to treat or prevent acne, eczema, fibromyalgia, PMS and Seasonal Affective Disorder was misleading and could be substantiated;
2. the ad discouraged essential treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder, depression, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, PMS, arthritis, diabetes and osteoporosis for which medical supervision should be sought; and
3. the ad was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication.
Response
1. Unvilla Ltd t/a Consol said that the ad only highlighted and discussed Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and made no direct connection to the use of sunbeds to cure SAD or otherwise stated that sunbeds cures SAD. They said readers would know that lack of sunlight, or UV light, could cause SAD
Consol provided a link to a website from the Sunbed Association which referred to regulations governing the maximum UV output of sunbeds. They said it was understood and evidenced that UV light was the best source of Vitamin D and referred to an article on an NHS website that the main source of Vitamin D was from UV light.
Consol said that a lack of Vitamin D could be attributed to a number of health conditions, as mentioned in the ad, but they did not state or provide a direct link to information that stated sunbeds could be used to treat those conditions. They also provided a number of links to articles and clinical review analyses about Vitamin D exposure and UV light.
Consol said that their ad informed the reader about SAD, the condition’s symptoms, that it could be caused by lack of sunlight, and available treatments. They said the article set out to inform the reader that UV light was the best source of Vitamin D and highlighted the vitamin’s benefits, along with risks associated with inadequate exposure to it.
Consol said sunbeds emitted UV light and that their ad referred to getting “winter sunshine”. They said the “sunshine” aspect related to the 0.3 UV measurement of the sunbed and that Vitamin D could not be synthesised from natural sunlight during the winter. They said they did not accept that they made a direct claim that sunbeds treated or prevented health conditions and that they acted responsibly, in accordance with the law, and in respect of responsible UV exposure.
2. Consol provided links to a number of articles associated with the health conditions. They said they had never advised that sunbeds could be used as a definitive medical solution to the health conditions listed or discouraged essential treatment. They said they had stated Vitamin D was a contributing factor and adequate levels could contribute towards prevention.
3. Consol said their copy clearly addressed customers.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA noted that Consol made prominent reference to Vitamin D and SAD throughout the ad. A headline at the top of the ad stated “Are you feeling sad this winter?”, while text beneath that stated “A lack of sunlight can not only make us feel a little sad but, more seriously, it can give us SAD.” Further down, the ad stated that there were “a range of treatments…recommended for SAD including getting as much sunlight…Some GPs will even prescribe a light box to mimic sunlight to ease the symptoms of the condition. At Consol getting your dose of winter sunshine has never been easier. We operate with world class sunbeds from the leading supplier Ergoline and unrivalled tube technology. All of tubes [sic] operate the safe limit of 0.3 which has been measured to be the same as the Mediterranean midday sunshine and promotes deep tanning without the risk of burning.” The ad then later stated “UV light is also the best source of Vitamin D on the planet” before it stated the benefits of Vitamin D which included prevention of conditions listed in the ad, namely “depression, high blood pressure… fibromyalgia… Seasonal Affective Disorder, PMS, arthritis, psoriasis, diabetes and osteoporosis” and “psoriasis, acne, eczema”. We considered those elements created the overall impression that using a sunbed was an effective way of preventing acne, eczema, fibromyalgia, PMS and Seasonal Affective Disorder.
We noted that Consol had provided some academic reviews and online articles to support their claim; however, only two made explicit references to the use of sunbeds as a means of producing vitamin D and neither suggested it as an effective or safe method to treat, prevent or cure the health conditions listed in the ad. Most of the evidence provided mentioned either the use of vitamin D supplements or sunlight alongside adequate sun protection as a means of increasing vitamin D levels.
The majority of the evidence provided consisted of information pages with no clinical trial data or other peer-reviewed evidence. None of the evidence Consol provided substantively stated that sunbeds could be used to safely or effectively increase vitamin D levels with only one study, an academic analysis of available evidence, assessing the benefits and risks of ultraviolet (UV) tanning. That study stated that exposure to sunlight had been linked to improved energy, elevated mood and Vitamin D synthesis but did not state that sunbeds were an effective alternative to natural sunlight. The only reference it made to indoor tanning was in respect of the risk of skin cancer, sunburn and photo-aging.
Because there was lack of sufficient evidence to substantiate the claims that Vitamin D and UV exposure produced through the use of sunbeds could be used to prevent acne, eczema, fibromyalgia, PMS and Seasonal Affective Disorder we concluded the ad breached the Code.
On those points the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12), 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 12.1 (Medicines, Medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
2. Upheld
Notwithstanding the lack of evidence to support the efficacy claims, the CAP Code stated that marketers must not discourage essential treatment for conditions for which medical supervision should be sought. For example, they must not offer specific advice on, diagnosis of or treatment for such conditions unless that advice, diagnosis or treatment was conducted under the supervision of a suitably qualified health professional. The ads featured the conditions Seasonal Affective Disorder, depression, high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes and osteoporosis. We considered those conditions were ones where medical supervision should be sought, and therefore advice, diagnosis or treatment needed to be conducted under the supervision of a suitably qualified medical professional.
We noted that we had not seen evidence that the use of sunbeds was provided under the supervision of a suitably qualified health professional. We considered that in absence of such a professional it could therefore discourage essential medical treatment for those conditions.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.2 (Medicines, Medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
3. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such. That meant that it was necessary for it be made immediately clear to readers that the content was an advertisement. We noted that the ad’s headline, subheading and body text had the appearance of a typical news article. Furthermore, it was placed alongside other articles within a magazine which contributed further to the impression that it was a magazine article. There was no text or other information such as “Advertisement” or “Advertisement Feature” which appropriately labelled the article as such.
We also noted that it wasn’t until the fourth paragraph and fifth paragraph which stated “At Consol, getting your dose of winter sunshine has never been easier” and “We operate with world class sunbeds”, which indicated that the content was by a company promoting their product rather than an independent journalist. We considered that insufficient to make it immediately clear to readers that the content was an advertisement.
We therefore concluded that the ad was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication and breached the Code.
On that point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 2.1 (Recognition of marketing communications).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Consol not to reference acne, eczema, fibromyalgia, PMS and Seasonal Affective Disorder unless they provided treatment that was conducted under the supervision of a suitably qualified health professional and they held adequate evidence to show that they could treat those conditions. We also told them to ensure their ads were obviously identifiable as such.
