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Home / New Zealand

Ad 'unduly glamorised homeopathy outcomes'

John Weekes
By John Weekes
Senior Business Reporter·NZME.·
5 Nov, 2014 04:47 AM3 mins to read

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Does homepathy really work? Photo / Thinkstock

Does homepathy really work? Photo / Thinkstock

Have you suffered from drowning, fainting, head injuries, broken bones, croup, mumps, measles or chicken-pox?

If so, homeopathy may not be for you, according to a decision dismissing claims made in a homeopathy advertisement.

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled a My Cafe Homeopathy ad was irresponsible and "unduly glamorised the outcomes of homeopathy".

It's among a rash of decisions against pseudoscientific or alternative health treatments in recent weeks.

The online ad for "Kiwi Homeopath" Tricia Cheel made various claims about homeopathy's effectiveness.

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The ad also pledged to offer "proven strategies" for boosting childrens' immune systems so they could grow healthy and "able to better fight off the harmful influences that surround us all."

A complainant said the claims were sickening.

"To assist consumers to make informed decisions, advertisements must contain truthful and balanced representations and claims that are valid and have been substantiated," the complainant told the authority.

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"Again, homeopathic 'remedies' have never passed this test so it is impossible to substantiate the claims being made..." they added.

The complainant, named as T.Saunders, called the ad "misleading, exaggerated, lacking substantiation and offensive in its disregard for the social harms that it may cause."

The authority said the advertiser's response was brief.

"This is a personal attack following an encounter on Facebook and I am surprised you would regard it as worthy of further attention -- I certainly don't," My Cafe Homeopathy told the authority.

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The authority ordered the ad to be removed.

On the My Cafe website, Ms Cheel said that since 1987 she had taught homeopathy to hundreds of adults.

"To cut the long story short after 3-4 years of intensive study I thought I should share the amazing knowledge because I could see that anyone with a modicum of common sense could benefit greatly from what I had found out; and I began tutoring," she said.

Called for comment this afternoon, Ms Cheel said she was busy and unable to talk. She also did not return an email or phone message.

The authority's decision comes just days after Green MP Steffan Browning was derided and demoted for supporting a call to fight the Ebola virus with homeopathy.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the party did not believe homeopathy was an evidence-based health measure.

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Meanwhile, the authority ordered an ad for Meridian Kinesiology to be taken down. That ad claimed kinesiology could help people with "numerous conditions including asthma, allergies, eye problems accident trauma and menopause."

The authority said in the absence of any evidence to support the therapeutic claims made, the ad was likely to mislead or deceive consumers.

The authority also upheld a complaint against the Give Me Life website.

"From alternative cancer treatments like the Gerson Therapy and Doctor Clark's Zapper Treatment to powerful detoxification programmes...we have done the research, seen the mind-blowing statistics and read the testimonials of a myriad of people who swear by these alternative (cancer) treatments," the ad stated.

The authority said the ad was misleading, made unproven claims, was not socially responsible and must be removed.

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