An advertisement on the Waikato Health Clinic website promoting the use of prayer as one of the healing arts of medicine has been amended following an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling.
The advertisement claimed "this modality has been well tested and found to produce favourable results in terms of patient outcomes".
The complainant said the claim that praying could cure or improve medical conditions was very unlikely and there was no evidence to suggest so. The advertisement also breached the social responsibility advertisers hold by offering "useless quackery", the complainant said.
Under the Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code - Principle 1, Principle 2, Rule 2(a), the ASA chair noted the complainant's view that the website contained unsubstantiated therapeutic claims about the efficacy of prayer that were misleading and a breach of social responsibility - if it meant conventional treatments were delayed.
The ASA chair acknowledged the advertiser had made changes to the website, removing references that were of concern.
Given the advertiser's co-operative engagement to amend the advert there was no further purpose presenting the case to the ASA board and the matter was settled.
Newshub.
