Barbara Brennan (part 2) - advanced healer

Barbara Brennan - the blonde rocket-woman pictured below - is still trying to fill places at her hands-on healing schools in Austria and the USA.

(Image credit)

The ASA complaint I submitted in April about a related advert was clearly not enough.

Now I'd like to know if she can substantiate her claim that "Barbara Brennan Healing Science" is

"...one of the most advanced energy healing systems available today..."

If true, that would hardly be an amazing discovery, since all the other "energy healing systems" don't work at all!

"I write to complain about an advert appearing in "Kindred Spirit" magazine, Summer 2010 issue, p82.

The advert promotes for the "Barbara Brennan School of Healing Europe".

I suspect that the advert may be in breach of two sections of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP) code. I can provide an original copy of the advert by post, if required.

1. In April, I sumbitted a complaint about a different advert from the same advertiser. I believe it is still under your consideration.

2. The advert which is the subject of this complaint contains a related, but different, medical claim, so I will risk submitting this second complaint.

3. Barbara Brennan is an American healer who promotes her own form of hands-on healing, "Barbara Brennan Healing Science".

4. Under Sections 3.1 and 50.1 of the CAP Code, I challenge whether the advertiser holds documentary evidence to prove any of the following claims, and I challenge whether the claims are backed by evidence, where appropriate consisting of clinical trials conducted on people:

(i) "Barbara Brennan Healing Science" is "one of the most advanced healing systems available today"

(ii) Barbara Brennan's hands-on healing technique is capable of any kind of healing whatsoever

5. I confirm that I have no connections with the advertiser, the magazine or with the alternative medicine industry in general. I confirm that I am not involved in legal proceedings with the advertiser or the magazine."

Barbara Brennan - NASA scientist fallen on hard times

Barbara claims to be a former NASA scientist.

I can't be bothered to find out whether she's telling the truth, but still, I was disturbed by her advert in Kindred Spirit Magazine claiming to teach people to "identify and heal the distortions that lead to disease".

Standard ASA complaint follows.

"I write to complain about an advert in "Kindred Spirit" magazine (May/June 2010, Issue 104, p4).

The advert, for Barbara Brennan School of Healing, promotes a "professional training programme".

I suspect that the advert may be in breach of one section of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP) code. I can provide an original copy of the advert by post, if required.

1. The CAP Code, Section 3.1, states "Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove all claims, whether direct or implied, that are capable of objective substantiation."

2. Under Section 3.1, I challenge whether the advertiser holds documentary evidence to prove any of the following claims:

(i) Students on the training programme can learn to "read the Human Energy Field"
(ii) Students on the training programme can learn to "identify and heal the distortions that lead to disease"
(iii) Students on the training programme can learn to "Perform some of the most advanced healing techniques known"
(iv) Students on the training programme can leave it as "amazing healers"

3. I confirm that I have no connections with the advertiser, the magazine or with the alternative medicine industry in general. I confirm that I am not involved in legal proceedings with the advertiser or the magazine."