The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint (made by the General Chiropractic Council) against a former registrant for misleading advertising – namely a leaflet distributed in March 2023 suggesting the individual was a chiropractor and medical doctor.
As they were no longer registered with the GCC, the individual was not able to use the title Chiropractor, nor the courtesy title “Doctor of Chiropractic”, nor were they medically qualified.
The advert was found to breach the CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.9 (Qualifications). The individual further frustrated the efforts of the ASA by refusing to engage with the complaint and was also found to have breached CAP Code rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay).
They were told that the ad must not appear again in its current form and they must not claim that they are a registered chiropractor or that they hold a general medical qualification when that is not the case. Read the full details of the case.
Writing on its website, the GCC said:
“When the issues were brought to the attention of the GCC, our priority was to protect the public from being misled. While section 32 of Chiropractic Act (1994) allows us to prosecute an unregistered individual who describes themself as a chiropractor, the burden of proof is high and (as it is a criminal offence) the process can be lengthy.
“The registrar decided the most proportionate and efficient way to proceed in this case was to refer the matter to the ASA.
The priority of the GCC is to protect the public, and we work closely with other regulators to make best use of all our legal powers to meet this aim.”
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