An organisation I helped found, The Society for Science Based Healthcare, has created an excellent tool for looking at Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) complaints – thanks to Mark Honeychurch.
The website looks at all ASA complaints made since 2008. You can see the top complainants, most complained about companies, complaints by product and complaints by media, amongst other statistics.
Fluoride Free New Zealand (FFNZ) aka Fluoride Action Network NZ is ranked 13th in organisations having the most successful complaints made against them, with 8 successful (upheld or settled) complaints. These successful complaints make up 73% of all complaints made against FFNZ and puts them just below Jetstar (12th) and above Air New Zealand (14th). Given how few adverts Fluoride Free NZ have released compared to the likes of Jetstar and Air NZ, it is disappointing to see that so many were found by the ASA to be infringing.
In total 1,013 companies in NZ have had successful ASA complaints made against them.
Mark Atkin, who was the science and legal advisor for FFNZ, has made four complaints against the Ministry of Health, Waikato District Health Board and Fluoridate Our Water – and every complaint he made was rejected by the ASA.
I notice that Mark Atkin has become sort of a “non-person” with the Fluoride Free people. He is no longer listed as their science and legal advisor.
Perhaps he bad science and legal advise has been the cause of so many of their scientific and legal defeats of late.
Ken, I suspect that it’s probably something more closely related to the relationship Mr Atkin has with the natural health industry – something that has become clearer in recent years.
Follow the money they say.