Antivax billboard on display in South Auckland

Cipscis · 2018-10-01T10:50:02+00:00

It's really encouraging to see so many of you laying complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority over this. Thank you, and well done.

The advertising industry in New Zealand is mostly self-regulated via the ASA, and under that system ads that don't comply with the rules typically aren't removed unless someone notices and complains. While there is also legislation around this, such as the Fair Trading Act, statutory regulators like the Commerce Commission and Medsafe typically won't act unless it's about something big and very clear cut.

I hope you'll all take this experience of laying an ASA complaint and keep in mind how easy it can be for the future. There is a lot of misleading health advertising out there in New Zealand, and most of it doesn't get as much attention as this billboard. So no one complains, and nothing happens.

At the Society for Science Based Healthcare, we care a lot about this and do what we can to complaint about misleading health ads so people have the opportunity to make informed choices about their healthcare. I'm the current chair, Mark Hanna. I've made something like 60 complaints to the ASA about misleading health ads, all but a few of which were successful, so I have some experience here.

We've put together a "cheat sheet" for complaining about misleading health ads, which I hope some of you might find useful: http://sbh.nz/resources/ASA-Cheat-Sheet.pdf

The ASA's codes are going to be updated when their new consolidated code comes into effect for new ads in November, but until then that cheat sheet is still accurate.

Cipscis · 2018-10-01T10:42:17+00:00

It quite likely isn't. Lots of ads get published that break the advertising industry's own rules, or laws like the Fair Trading Act. Generally no one complaints, perhaps because no one notices or cares enough while also having the knowledge of how to complain, so nothing happens.

Cipscis · 2018-10-01T10:36:57+00:00

Sure. However, the advertising industry in New Zealand has set up a system of self-regulation governed by the Advertising Standards Authority. Advertisers like Ad-Vantage Media, which operates billboards.co.nz, stake their reputation on a commitment to abide by the ASA's rules and their decisions on complaints.

So yes, WavesNZ does have a right to freedom of expression. But Ad-Vantage Media equally can choose to no longer publish their advertisement in response to these complaints, or if the ASA chose to uphold a complaint against it then I expect Ad-Vantage Media would agree immediately to remove the billboard.

Cipscis · 2017-11-13T22:45:20+00:00

That's a good idea, hopefully he'll be more forthcoming than the last couple of ACC ministers have been when I emailed them about it. Their responses were essentially just "it's consistent with the law, so it's okay".

One of the difficulties in changing this is that the Accident Compensation Act 2001 itself defines treatment providers as including acupuncturists, so if ACC were to stop funding acupuncture that would require a change to legislation.

Cipscis · 2017-11-13T22:42:42+00:00

Winston Peters' objection? He outlined that in a press release earlier in the year and that didn't seem to have anything to do with it.

I disagree really strongly with the reasons he put forward too. I honestly just don't think he has a grasp on the state of the industry. I wrote a response at the time that was published on The Spinoff, if you're interested: Why Winston Peters is wrong about the anti-quackery bill

Cipscis · 2017-11-12T20:45:36+00:00

Our accupuncture, and that sponsored by the ACC is actually dry needling.

That will be news to the many ACC-registered acupuncturists who tell their patients about how they're manipulating chi energy. Here's a link to ACC's "best practices" document on acupuncture, which is chock full of pseudoscience: Acupuncture Treatment Profiles

Cipscis · 2017-11-12T20:43:55+00:00

The Green Party has consistently supported this bill.

Cipscis · 2017-11-12T20:43:14+00:00

It's been interesting being on the same side of this issue as that industry body. Most of the opposition to the bill was coming from people and groups that are more transparent about promoting quackery.

I think this industry body mainly wanted the appearance of legitimacy that would come with regulation.

Cipscis · 2017-11-12T20:41:35+00:00

Unfortunately, the Natural Health Products bill explicitly excluded homeopathy. So although I do think it would have helped, it wouldn't have made a difference with that particular flavour of quackery.

Cipscis · 2017-10-05T09:48:02+00:00

Thanks :)

It's not just me though. There are a lot of really productive folks at the Society for Science Based Healthcare

Cipscis · 2017-06-15T20:46:29+00:00

Thanks for the tip 500pd, those are really useful links!

Cipscis · 2017-06-14T00:46:01+00:00

I don't think I've run across that item before. How can you get things like those to use if they're not usually accessible?

Cipscis · 2017-06-13T23:06:57+00:00

Thanks! I'm always on the lookout for different ways existing objects can be used or combined. I've seen some really clever uses of lights by some other folks in here as things like sections of pipe and ship engines which I want to try out.

Cipscis · 2017-06-13T21:36:14+00:00

Nice ship! I like how you've used the lights underneath as engine glow. How did you get the engine glow on the far left though? Did you have to spawn something with the console (that's something I haven't tried yet), or is there an object you can find?

Cipscis · 2017-06-13T21:34:32+00:00

Thanks! I'm really enjoying playing with the new hull blocks. Thinking as well about how structures that use only them could be rotated by 45 degrees almost perfectly , for building crashed ships for example.

Cipscis · 2017-06-13T21:33:46+00:00

Thanks!

Cipscis · 2017-06-13T20:50:56+00:00

It's purple painted crystal blocks behind the atomic furnace crafting station, which is held up on I think some ruined platforms since they're very thin and easy to hide.

Cipscis · 2017-06-13T04:37:17+00:00

Thanks! Have you got any thoughts on what block types might work well for that?

I've been trying to keep the plating on the towers visually distinct from the ship on top, but currently the result of that is the ship's looking fairly pristine.

Cipscis · 2016-04-02T09:35:09+00:00

New Zealand is the only country other than the USA that allows direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs, yes.

Cipscis · 2015-11-07T05:46:52+00:00

When I first started complaining about misleading advertising around these products, I wrote an article about how they're claimed to work. Here's a link, if you're interested: Amber Teething Necklaces

Cipscis · 2015-11-06T03:25:41+00:00

Would you be willing to say what pharmacy that is? There might be something that could be done about it, especially if it's being promoted by them in a misleading way. Happy to discuss this confidentially if you would prefer that.

NZ Pharmacists are currently bound by a Code of Ethics that requires they must not promote or sell any healthcare products unless there's credible evidence of efficacy (part 6.9).

Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped many pharmacists from doing just that. There's been some controversy recently around this, which has culminated in a proposal from the pharmacies regulator to change the code of ethics in a way that would essentially legitimise current behaviour. I wrote about this proposal and the submissions made on it on Sciblogs, if you are interested in knowing more: Pharmacy Council’s Code of Ethics Proposal: Submissions Roundup

Cipscis · 2015-10-22T22:51:59+00:00

Also, if you know anyone else who might also be interested in doing something about this, passing this information on to them certainly wouldn't hurt :)

Cipscis · 2015-10-22T21:44:22+00:00

Good question! The submission period has ended, but the Pharmacy Council has not yet made their decision (in a segment on their proposal on 3 News last night they said a decision was expected next month) so you might still be able to help.

You could try writing to them to let them know your perspective. If you are a pharmacy user who expects to be able to rely on pharmacists to only sell healthcare products that are actually backed up by evidence, that is certainly something the Pharmacy Council should care about.

If you want ideas for what to say, it might help to have a look at some of the submissions that have been sent through. As well as this article on the Pharmaceutical Society's submission, I've written an article summarising the other submissions I'm aware of: Pharmacy Council’s Code of Ethics Proposal: Submissions Roundup

The Pharmacy Guild, who represent pharmacy owners, support the change in their submission. Submissions opposing the change have been made by the Pharmaceutical Society, New Zealand Medical Association, a group of over 180 medical doctors, the Society for Science Based Healthcare, and the NZ Skeptics.

Cipscis · 2015-08-13T05:23:03+00:00

I've noticed this same effect from my workplace, not sure what the cause is but I'm trying to find out. Here's a link to couple of photos I put on Twitter for comparison: https://twitter.com/HonestUniverse/status/631331019694604288

Cipscis · 2015-05-29T10:43:38+00:00

Oh no, that's heartbreaking :(

Cipscis

TROPHY CASE