Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
The Stewart Report 2000, which was set up in response to concern over alleged health risks from the use of mobile phones, concluded that “The balance of evidence does not suggest mobile phone technologies put the health of the general public of the UK at risk”. It went on to say that preliminary evidence suggested that mobile phone technology could cause subtle biological effects but those did not mean that health was affected. In 2005 the National Radiological Protection Board, now incorporated within the Health Protection Agency, issued an updated statement reasserting that conclusion.
Although special precautions need not be taken when using mobile phones (though see Mobile Phones and Children below), marketers may advertise products that reduce the amount of radiation emitted by them so long as they do so responsibly. They should market those products (e.g. shields, cases, filters, etc) only if they can show they work (Rule 3.7) and only in a way that neither implies that phone radiation will harm users nor constitutes an undue appeal to fear (Rule 4.2). Claims such as “our product blocks x% of radiation” could be acceptable if they are demonstrably true.
The ASA has yet to be satisfied that those types of products work effectively (Manor Marketing, 10 June 2001). It has ruled that, even when they have shielded radiation from the user, devices have done so at the expense of the quality of the call; the ASA has asked marketers to state the deterioration of call quality in the marketing communication and to avoid claims like “crystal clear reception” (BVG Airflow, July 2000).
One marketer did not prove to the ASA that its chip could “eliminate mobile radiation harmful radiation from your mobile phone …” or “‘calm’ the activity of the microwave” to reduce symptoms claimed by the marketer (Roadnet Automotive, 21 November 2001).
Mobile Phones and Children
In response to the Stewart Report on mobile phones and health, the Government has discouraged children from using mobile phones except for essential purposes. Although the ASA has not ruled on the advertising of mobile phones to children, on the basis of the NRPB’s statements, marketers are advised not to target mobile phones at children under 16 by the selection of media, style of presentation, content or context in which they appear unless encouraging vital use only.
Last modified : 14 October 2010