ASA clears Cancer Research and Scots Government sun bed campaign
The ASA has not upheld a complaint against a poster for Cancer Research UK and the Scottish Government which a manager of a sunbed firm said, falsely claimed that skin cancer could be caused by three months use of a sunbed.
The poster featured a calendar extract which read; “Hair 6pm” written on various days. On 11 and 30 December were written sunbed appointments and on 22 March was written; “Hospital: Cancer surgery 9am.”
Next to the text was a picture of a young woman with a large scar on her back and underneath was written;Using a sunbed could change your plans dramatically. Once a month o more on a sunbed can increase the risk of skin cancer by more than half. It is now illegal for operators to allow under 18's to use sunbeds in Scotland."
The sun bed chain manager claimed that the advert, by Edinburgh agency Family, was misleading because the calendar implied a link between casual sunbed use and cancer surgery within three-and-a-half months, and also claimed that saying that sun bed use at the rate of once-a-month or more would increase the risk of skin cancer was also misleading.
Cancer Research UK responded by claiming that it was commissioned by the Scottish Government to help publicise new legislation on regulating sunbed use in Scotland. It said that the World Health Organisation has reclassified sunbeds as a Group 1 carcinogen – the same category as cigarettes. It was also claimed that scientific research had found the occasional use of a sunbed did heighten the risk of skin cancer and that it wasn’t their intention to suggest that cancer could be developed within three-and-a-half months.
It was also claimed that the poster’s message had not been misunderstood by teenage girls – the main users of sunbeds – in research.
The ASA chose not to uphold the complaint, noting that consumers would understand that the calendar image referred to monthly sunbed use over an unspecified period of time, rather than to imply that just two appointments were made.