Fitalifestyle added to ASA Hall of Shame

Less than two weeks after publishing a fourth adjudication against them, the Advertising Standards Authority have added Errol Denton’s Fitalifestyle (t/a See My Cells and Live Blood Test) to their list of non-compliant online advertisers.

Denton earned his place in this Hall of Shame with a very ill-judged response to this adjudication, which concerned some ludicrous claims about chlorophyll. He duly deleted the claims from this page of the See My Cells site, only for them later to appear here below an ‘OFFICIALLY PROVEN PHOTO TAKEN FROM NASA WEBSITE!!!’

Fitalifestyle continue to make dubious health claims – even after four ASA adjudications

The Advertising Standards Authority have published a fourth adjudication against material promoting Errol Denton’s Fitalifestyle – as the original complainant explains here. This concerns claims made about nutritional microscopy (also known as live blood analysis), in this case appearing on the FAQ page of his See My Cells website.

The previous three related to a Nutritional Microscopy leaflet, laughable claims about chlorophyll and an ill-advised Groupon promotion. Although the ASA ruled that these ads must not appear again in their current form, the latter two remain online here and here.

But that’s not all… Even if Denton had complied with the demands of the four adjudications, his sites would, in my opinion, still blatantly breach the CAP code, since misleading and unsubstantiated statements abound. These include claims and implications of medical efficacy against a wide range of conditions – some of them serious.

Another bloody disgrace from Groupon!

Excuse my belligerent tone but I truly am appalled and frustrated that despite  numerous complaints, innocent members of the public are still being misled by Live Blood Analysts promoted by Groupon.

In addition to making misleading claims in his advertising, one practitioner, Errol Denton, has even – according to comments made online – been treating customers appallingly, resulting in a ‘mass refund’ from Groupon, as well as an adjudication by the Advertising Standards Authority against the original ad.

Live Blood Analysis performed on BBC’s The One Show

Among the many incredible claims made by Errol Denton (subject of my first and third ASA adjudications as well as this older one blogged here) is that he has appeared on BBC1′s The One Show.

Amazingly, this seems to be true. He appears on the clip below (dated 8/5/09), from just after 3 minutes in, where he analyses the blood of presenter Michael Mosley in order to establish whether a two week cold shower regime has benefited Mosley’s immune system.

My third ASA adjudication: Groupon’s Live Blood Test claims exaggerated, misleading and unsubstantiated

My blog started in March of this year, when I found out about Live Blood Analysis (and the related Alkaline Diet). It is a practice promoted and taught by ‘Dr’ Robert O Young (subject of my second adjudication), based on the laughable and long-disproven theory of (extreme) pleomorphism (the idea that the body’s own cells transform into bacteria and fungi).

Since March, I have made a series of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority about misleading and unsubstantiated claims made by LBA practitioners. The majority of these have been informally resolved (when the advertisers agreed to remove problematic claims). Unfortunately some practitioners did not agree to remove their claims. According to this letter from the ASA, they aren’t going to pursue all my complaints formally but will instead focus on one or two. The letter also said “if Council goes on to make a formal adjudication, we will in all likelihood follow up with compliance action across the sector”.

I am hopeful that this is such an adjudication.