The Advertising Standards Authority has finally adjudicated on Forest's complaint about a Department of Health advertisement that claimed “Every 15 cigarettes you smoke will cause a mutation".
It's only taken 18 months.
The DH's 'mutation health harms' campaign was launched on television on December 28, 2012. According to the voiceover:
“When you smoke the chemicals you inhale cause mutations in your body and mutations are how cancer starts. Every 15 cigarettes you smoke will cause a mutation. If you could see the damage you would stop.”
Angela Harbutt submitted Forest's complaint on January 14, 2013. It was based on two counts: misleading information and the omission of material information.
Since then the ASA has commissioned an independent expert to examine the evidence, given the DH every opportunity to challenge our complaint, and issued no fewer than THREE draft recommendations.
The first was sent to us in November 2013, the second in April 2014, the third in June.
Each time Forest's complaint was UPHELD and every time the DH was instructed to withdraw the advertisement.
Each recommendation however came with a request to treat it as confidential "until the final report is published". There were two reasons for this:
One, in its wisdom the ASA decided the DH could challenge not just the first recommendation (fair enough) but even the second.
Two, the third and final recommendation had to be considered by the ASA Council led by former Labour minister Lord Smith before the final adjudication could be released to the world.
The Council met on July 18 and made its decision but even then we were asked to keep it confidential until July 30 when it "will be published on the ASA website".
And guess what? After a tortuous investigation during which the ASA executive repeatedly recommended that our complaint be upheld, the ASA Council rejected it!
That's right, our complaint was NOT upheld.
Incredibly the ASA Council has ignored the recommendation of its own executive (which commissioned a report from an independent expert) and sided with the Department of Health.
You couldn't make it up.
Full correspondence to follow. In the meantime, here's Forest's response to this extraordinary turn of events:
NEWS RELEASE Embargoed July 30, 2014, 00:01hrs
ASA's TV ad verdict "inexplicable" says Forest
A consumer group has described as “inexplicable” a decision by the Advertising Standards Authority to reject a complaint about a television advertisement for the NHS smoke free campaign.
The ad, broadcast in January 2013, featured a man lighting a cigarette outside his house. A growth appeared on the cigarette that increased in size as he smoked. A voiceover stated:
“When you smoke the chemicals you inhale cause mutations in your body and mutations are how cancer starts. Every 15 cigarettes you smoke will cause a mutation. If you could see the damage you would stop.”
The advertisement generated 18 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority including one from the smokers’ group Forest.
According to Forest the advertisement was misleading because it was based on a statement that was tentative not categorical. It also omitted material information. As a result it contravened the Advertising Code.
In the course of an 18-month investigation the ASA’s executive team recommended three times that Forest’s complaint be upheld and the advertisement withdrawn.
The first two recommendations were challenged by the Department of Health. Having considered the DH’s response, the ASA executive submitted to the ASA Council its final recommendation. For a third time it upheld Forest’s complaint.
Today [30th July] the ASA Council published its own verdict: complaint not upheld.
Simon Clark, director of Forest, said: “The decision is inexplicable. Not only have ASA Council members ignored the advice of their own executive, they have effectively rejected the report of an independent expert commissioned to advise the ASA on this complex issue.
“The Department of Health did everything it could to derail our complaint and were given every opportunity to do so. Despite this the ASA executive upheld our complaint three times. That speaks volumes.”
Clark added:
“We have requested an independent review of the Council’s adjudication because we are determined to challenge this baffling decision.
“The public has a right to be educated about the health risks of smoking but information must be based on incontrovertible evidence. This advertisement fell short of that and should be withdrawn.”
It will take a dedicated journalist to plough through all the correspondence, so don't expect to see this story in the mainstream media, but I hope you will agree it stinks.
Needless to say we have no intention of letting this rest. I'll keep you posted.