ASA demands removal of ‘appeal to fear’ in private health insurance ad
The ASA has ordered the removal of negative references to the NHS which it said were used as an "appeal to fear" by a private health insurance company Bestmedicalcover.co.uk.
The ad used an "appeal to fear"
The advert highlighted a statistic citing 13,000 deaths in the NHS, and included the statement: "Your 3-Step Guide to Avoid the NHS Crisis."
The ASA found that the claims were culled from various press reports, rather than actual data. The ASA said the 13,000 figure had since been disputed and was not an accurate representation.
The ASA said that marketers were entitled to refer to legitimate concern about care standards, but were not entitled to cause fear or distress without justifiable reason.
"We considered that the references to excess deaths, an 'NHS Crisis' and that health insurance could 'save your life!' and the overall impression of the ad used an appeal to fear to sell private health insurance and that it was not justified to do so," the ASA said.
The ASA ruled that the ad must no longer run in its current form.
"We told [parent company] eSmart Media to ensure they held robust substantiation to support claims in their ads, and to ensure that any references to the NHS did not use an appeal to fear."
The ad drew 54 complaints.
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