Mobile Phone Cover Advert 'Misleading'
Ananova
July 12, 2000
A company has been asked to withdraw an advertisement which claimed a mobile phone cover could help protect people from potentially harmful health effects
Epoque plus Y Ltd claimed in a magazine advertisement that mobile phones, as well as computer monitors and microwave ovens, produced positive ions which could cause health problems including headaches.
It claimed its product, Gardion, produced negative ions which countered the positive ions.
But a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority questioned the effectiveness of the cover.
The complainant also questioned the claim that all electrical appliances generate positive ions and that the product could continuously generate negative ions.
The company, based in Holland Park Avenue, west London, told the Advertising Standards Authority that tests had been done on the product by overseas institutions.
But the ASA said they had not proved its effectiveness and asked the company to withdraw the advertisement. The ASA also asked that an advert for Microshield mobile phone protection cases be withdrawn.
It followed a complaint about an advertisement in The Times which claimed the case could reduce radiation from mobile phones by up to 99%.
The advertisers sent reports from six organisations, including BT, to the ASA to justify the claim.
But the watchdog said the advert "misleadingly" implied the 99% figure had been measured more accurately than it had.
It also "misleadingly" implied that the protection could be achieved without affecting call quality or reliability, said the ASA.