ASA Adjudication on Department of Health

An ad for the National Health Service smoke-free campaign claimed that “every 15 cigarettes you smoke will cause a mutation,” which is how cancer starts. In response to a number of complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated the claim and found that it was backed by scientific evidence and was not likely to be misleading. Therefore, the ASA found that the ad did not violate the country’s advertising code. 

ASA Adjudication on Department of Health, Complaint Ref: A13-218177 (2014).

  • United Kingdom
  • Jul 30, 2014
  • Advertising Standards Authority
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Parties

Plaintiff

  • Forest (The Freedom Organisation For The Right To Enjoy Smoking Tobacco Ltd.)
  • Unidentified complainants

Defendant Department of Health t/a NHS

Legislation Cited

Committee of Advertising Practice Broadcast (BCAP) Code, Rule 3.1 (Misleading advertising)

Committee of Advertising Practice Broadcast (BCAP) Code, Rule 3.9 (Substantiation)

Related Documents

Type of Litigation

Tobacco Control Topics

Substantive Issues

Type of Tobacco Product

None

"The ASA acknowledged that The DH had provided a range of peer-reviewed papers. We took expert advice. We noted that the papers supported higher mutation rates among smokers versus non-smokers. We noted that not all the papers presented discussed smoking and the linear dose response relationship used to calculate mutation accumulation. However, we were satisfied that the papers indicated that a broadly linear dose-response relationship between mutations and cigarette smoking existed. We considered the selection of estimated mutation rates per cigarette smoked derived from the whole genome sequencing data in the papers. ... Because the ad made a conservative claim, which was supported by the evidence, we concluded that the ad was substantiated and unlikely to mislead."