The owners of Electronic Healing, Steven and Susan Lee, were yesterday fined £1,000 each and ordered to pay £7,000 in costs following two formal investigations by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The ASA found the company in breach of rules against making misleading efficacy claims about its products Bob Beck Protocol and Liquid Oxygen Drops.
An ad for Bob Beck Protocol claimed the product "kills or disables microbes (virus, bacteria and fungus) in the body", while Liquid Oxygen Drops were "credited with a multitude of significant health benefits from healthy energy to immunity and disease prevention".
A video on the company’s website also claimed Bob Beck Protocol could "amplify the immune system, remove the need for flu vaccinations, increase oxygen in the blood, reduce HIV infections and help fibromyalgia".
The ASA said Electronic Healing failed to provide enough evidence to support its claims and was placed on a list of non-compliant online advertisers on the watchdog’s website.
Despite the sanction, the company continued to make the same health claims, prompting the ASA to refer the company to Trading Standards for prosecution.
Following changes to the law in 2013, Camden Council in London contracted with the UK’s national trading standards body to provide the ASA with a legal backstop in relation to misleading, aggressive or otherwise unfair non-broadcast advertising.
Guy Parker, the ASA chief executive, said: "We welcome the robust enforcement action taken by National Trading Standards and the London Borough of Camden against Electronic Healing. It’s a significant and important outcome and underlines our commitment to protecting consumers from misleading advertising claims.
"Moreover, misleading health claims have a real potential to cause harm. It also sends out a clear and strong message to advertisers that, where they are unwilling to cooperate and stick to the rules, there can be legal consequences."
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