Natural Cycles, a Swedish startup that developed a body temperature-based algorithm for tracking individual fertility, has come under the controversy microscope once again.
This time, a UK advertising regulator upheld 3 complaints that an advert the company ran last year on Facebook’s platform was “misleading.”
They told them no, and they did it anyway
While Natural Cycles gained EU certification for its app as a contraceptive in February 2017, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) claims to have stated very clearly that the company was “not to imply that the app was a ‘highly accurate’ method of contraception.”
Unfortunately, the ad in question did exactly that, promising a “highly accurate, certified, contraceptive app that adapts to every woman’s unique menstrual cycle.”
The regulator banned Natural Cycles from running the ad again, and warned it against exaggerating the “efficacy” of its technology.
This isn’t the app’s first unwanted controversy
The company has faced heavy scrutiny from medical professionals for “downplaying the complexity of its system,” as well as its odds of failure.
In January, a Swedish hospital reported 37 unwanted pregnancies among users of the app over a 5-month period, and accused the company’s effectiveness claims of being highly misleading.
According to a spokesperson for Sweden’s Medical Products Agency, the investigation has come to a head, and the agency plans to publish its findings sometime next week.
