Storm in a D-cup as clinics clash

TWO of the UK’s biggest cosmetic surgery businesses have become embroiled in a spat over which can claim to be the “most trusted”.

Altrincham’s Transform Cosmetic Surgery Group made the claim in a magazine advert, prompting a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from the London-based Harley Medical Group.

It told the ASA the ad was misleading, insisting it was Britain’s most trusted cosmetic surgery group, having treated more patients.

Defending its claim Transform said it had performed more surgical procedures than Harley and 98% of its customers had rated the care and support they received as “good” or “excellent” in 2007. It also said three independent reports had identified Transform as the market leader or largest provider of cosmetic surgery.

But the ASA upheld Harley’s complaint on the grounds that Transform could not provide enough evidence that it was more trusted than its rivals.

In a statement the ASA said: “We considered… that that evidence was insufficient to demonstrate that Transform were ‘trusted’ to a greater degree than their competitors or that the claim was valid on either of those terms. 

“We concluded that, because Transform were unable to substantiate their claim to be ‘Britain’s most trusted cosmetic surgery group’, the ad was likely to mislead.”

Transform’s spokesperson Shami Thomas said: “Use of the word ‘trusted’ is very subjective. We still stand by the claim and our statistics substantiate it.

“The ASA’s decision doesn’t take away from the fact that we are the UK’s number one leading cosmetic surgery provider.” 

Transform has been told not to repeat the ad. Both businesses have clinics throughout the UK offering a range of surgery from nose jobs to breast implants.