The Times newspaper article today.
Advert about autism ‘misleading’, ASAI rules
The Times
An advertisement claiming that a homeopathic therapy could lead to the “complete elimination” of autism was misleading and created a fear of vaccinations, the advertising watchdog has ruled.
The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) upheld a complaint against As I Am Clinic, a homeopathic and craniosacral therapy clinic based in Dublin.
The clinic stated on its website that it offered Cease therapy for the treatment of children and adults presenting with autism. Cease stands for “complete elimination of autistic spectrum expression”.
The watchdog ruled that the advertisement was misleading, lacked any evidence to substantiate the claims and could result in a fear of vaccinations in consumers. It ruled that the advert could not reappear in its present form.
The clinic told the ASAI it was “very confident in the work” and “felt blessed to know and work with Cease therapy”, adding that it would continue to work in this area. The clinic asked the watchdog to explain how the advertising “lacked truthfulness, honesty and substantiation”. It also queried whether the watchdog had researched the therapy.
The clinic said it would remove “complete elimination autistic spectrum expression” from its website because it was “too open for criticism and misinterpretation”. It said that the removal had no bearing, nor changed in any way, how they felt about Cease therapy and its effectiveness.
Mags Fitzgerald, who owns and runs the clinic, did not respond to requests for comment.
The complaint was among 13 of 16 complaints that were upheld by the ASAI. Other companies eliciting complaints included Argos, Universal Pictures Ireland, the Musgrave group and Flanagans Furniture.
A complaint against a radio advert for the Sunday Business Post newspaper was also upheld after it described its team of journalists as “young and dynamic”. The complainant considered the advert to be ageist and discriminatory and the complaint was upheld on the grounds that “the reference to age would reasonably give rise to offence”.
Siobhan O’Hagan, an influencer also known as OH Fitness, also had a complaint against her upheld for failing to properly label sponsored posts. Ms O’Hagan published three pictures while wearing MyProtein clothing but did not mention that she was a sponsored athlete for the brand.
The complaint was upheld and the watchdog said that every post “where the brand was featured or mentioned, irrespective of whether that post was part of a contractual arrangement or not” should be marked with appropriate hashtags such as #ad or #spon.
Meanwhile, nine complaints against a television advert for Lenor fabric softener were not upheld. The advert asked if using the product on bedsheets could give customers “bedgasms’” — a phrase complainants described as “overtly sexual in nature”. The ASAI ruled that the ad “was light-hearted and humorous and that the content of the advertisement was not sexual in nature”.
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cease therapy..,!!!