6 days ago
Cork pain relief centre cited for misleading advert due to having unqualified doctor
An advertisement by the Cork-based Haven Pain Relief Centre, which claimed it had a 'pain specialist doctor', has been deemed 'misleading' by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) as the credentials of the professional listed would not qualify them to practice medicine in Ireland.
Haven Pain Relief Centre is a chiropractic centre in Douglas and the credentials of the principal person in charge of the centre says he is a 'chiropractic doctor' which is not a medical doctor.
A complaint to the ASA noted that Haven Pain Relief Centre's website contained statements such as 'Haven Integrative Pain Relief Centre in Douglas, Cork, is Ireland's leading Multidisciplinary Pain Relief and Wellness Care Centre' as well as 'Pain Management Consultants" and "Pain Specialist Doctor Cork'.
The complainant considered the advertisement misleading as the service advertisement included various references to 'doctor' together with 'pain management consultants' and 'pain specialist doctor'.
'The complainant also stated that, based on the information provided, they considered it reasonable for a member of the public to believe that the services were being provided by a medical doctor,' the ASA said.
'However, none of the credentials listed for the medical professional featured in the advertisement appeared to be those that qualify a person to practice medicine in Ireland.'
In Ireland, chiropractors are not medical doctors and cannot prescribe medication. The website of the representative body Chiropractic Association of Ireland also states that there is 'no legislation' governing or regulating chiropractors in Ireland and this means 'anyone may call themselves a chiropractor'.
Other reported advertisements
This was just one case out of nine detailed by the ASA of which eight were upheld in full and one was upheld in part. Advertisements across online, social media and radio were found to be in breach of the ASA code on grounds related to principles, recognisability and misleading advertising.
There were six complaints received by the ASA relating to advertisements run by Dublin and Cork airport operator daa. A complaint against a daa newspaper advertisement was not upheld but five complaints about the radio advertisement were upheld.
The radio advertisement featured the statement stating 'by halving airport emissions by 2030, we think we can lift everyone's future hopes even higher'.
'Five complainants felt the radio ad was misleading by implying that all airport-related emissions (including flights) would be halved by 2030, whereas the actual claim only referred to direct airport emission,' the ASA said.
A complaint was upheld against Eir over a sponsored post on Facebook which claimed that customers would receive a new Chromebook Go, worth €329, if they bought a Samsung Galaxy S24 on Eir 'for just €99'.
The complainant believed the advertisement was misleading as one had to enter a contract with Eir to avail of the offer which was not stated in the advertisement.
Second-hand retailer Luxury Exchange received a complaint for stating that it had free deliveries throughout Ireland but still charged a fee to the complainant. This was deemed misleading by the ASA.
A number of complaints were upheld against advertisements carried on the Instagram account Twins and Me which distributed ads for a number of companies. The advertisers included Ella and Jo, Voduz Hair, Dylan Oaks, as well as Image A.D.S.
The complaints were due to ads not being marked correctly as commercial content, not including hashtags before AD to properly denote an advertisement, or not fully disclosing affiliate links.
A complaint against the account itself was also upheld for not stating the link to a product was an affiliate link and the 'influencer had included 'AF' in small writing which was obscured by the influencer's profile picture'.
