UK breast enlargement ad criticised

Published: 10:06PM Wednesday December 05, 2007 Source: Reuters

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An advert which said breast enlargement surgery was easy was condemned by British advertising watchdogs.
   
Posters for the Harley Medical Group, which were displayed on panels next to London Underground escalators, showed a woman wearing a bikini photographed before and after breast surgery.
   
The final poster stated "Gorgeous breasts just got easy with cosmetic surgery".
   
A number of people, including a doctor, complained saying the adverts were misleading and irresponsible to suggest to young women that surgery was easy without any warning of the risks involved.
   
The Harley group said the word easy described their consultation process and the finance package they offered, and that all their patients were fully informed about the surgery before they gave their consent.
   
However, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld the complaints, saying readers of the poster could infer that the procedure was easy and without risk.
   
"Because we understood that surgery always carried a risk to the patient, we concluded that, by promoting a surgical operation as 'easy', the approach was irresponsible and misleading," the ASA said.
   
It did, though reject other complaints about the adverts, including 33 from people who had objected because they said the posters implied that large breasts made people happier.
   
The Harley group said it would not run the adverts again.

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