The Advertising Standards Authority and me

You probably think I go seeking out this kind of stuff just to complain about it.

I admit that I have Googled certain terms with the sole aim of reporting advertisers to the authorities. I have perused leaflets of local practitioners on the lookout for dubious claims. I have signed up for Groupon emails covering areas nowhere near home – just to be kept informed of the latest weird and wonderful quackery hitting the nation’s capital.

But sadly, implausible advertising claims in the alternative health sector are so prevalent that I hardly need go looking for them. And since receiving this letter, I am no longer (generally speaking) in a position to make formal complaints:

Dear ASA, YOU ROCK!

Someone has evidently got their knickers in a twist over the Advertising Standards Authority’s decision to name and shame non-complying digital advertisers…

On the same day the ASA’s Hall of Shame was unveiled, the ASA Sucks website (and associated @Against_the_ASA Twitter account) emerged. I originally decided to ignore this mildly interesting development which has already been blogged elsewhere.

As the names alone indicate, the attack was so childish, petty and ill-advised to be almost beyond parody.

University of Westminster, I still believe you are teaching pseudoscience degrees and am surprised your Life Sciences people think otherwise

In June, I emailed Professor Geoffrey Petts, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Westminster, in support of the Nightingale Collaboration’s Focus of the Month ‘Pseudo science by degrees‘.

He did not reply to me personally but sent this response to the Nightingale Collaboration. Since I was unimpressed by this and have now given up hope of receiving a personal reply from Professor Petts, I have emailed him the following:

The Nightingale Collaboration Focus of the Month: pseudoscience by degrees

I have decided, despite this, this, and this (informally resolved), not to bother blogging the ASA adjudications this week but to concentrate on the Nightingale Collaboration’s Focus of the Month: Pseudo science by degrees.

Like me, they have decided to give the ASA a break and ‘focus on the problem of what some therapists are being taught in our institutions of higher learning’. They point out that the University of Westminster (among others) are offering BSc, MSc and MSci courses in subjects such as naturopathy, herbal medicine, acupuncture and complementary medicine. They urge us to write to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Westminster, Professor Geoffrey Petts (and/or any other university offering such courses), to voice our concerns.

I decided to send an email: