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.
CAP understands that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as ‘winter depression’, is a mood disorder whose sufferers experience depressive symptoms in the winter or, less frequently, in the summer but, repeatedly, year after year, with normal mental health throughout most of the year. The most difficult months for SAD sufferers are January and February, with symptoms often subsiding during the spring and summer months.
Some marketers have claimed that phototherapy, bright light therapy and sunbed sessions (The Sunbed Association, 7 September 2005) can be effective treatments for SAD. Some well-conducted studies have demonstrated a positive effect of high intensity light therapy on remission rates in SAD. But, because it is associated with depression, which is a condition for which medical advice should be sought, SAD should, in the first instance, be treated only by a qualified health professional such as a doctor (Rule 12.2). As a result, marketers advertising such devices should take care to ensure that their ads do not include direct or implied references to depression. Marketers should check with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) if they are unsure about whether they are making medicinal claims or if they want guidance on the classification of medical devices.
Based on evidence it has seen, CAP has allowed marketers of products that emit light between 3,000 and 10,000 lux to make claims that their bright light therapy products can relieve these symptoms of SAD: heavy fatigue or additional fatigue experienced in winter; craving and consumption of additional carbohydrates; feeling anti-social and ‘winter blues’.
But it is important to note that marketers who want to make similar claims should hold evidence to substantiate them or ensure their products have the same specifications as those products whose efficacy has been established (Rule 12.1). Alternatively, we suggest that marketers should focus on the product as a source of bright light. Claims such as “Get ‘sunshine’ every day with the Happy Light!” or “If you can’t jet off to the sun when the season changes and the cold winter nights draw in, help to bring those sunny, balmy days closer with the Happy Light. Just try the Happy Light for 30 mins every day” are likely to be acceptable.
See ‘Ailments, Treatments and Therapies, Phototherapy’.
Last modified : 26 July 2010