Molly Ann Fairley's "Psychic Slimming" service

As the winter months begin to draw in, and the supermarkets begin to stock up on deliciously cheap tins of Quality Street, it's an unfortunate fact that many of us middle-aged sceptics are finding our waistlines swelling faster than the GCC's complaints in-tray.

If only there was a way to make that unwelcome fat disappear, for just £85 or less!

(Image credit)

Meet Molly Ann Fairley.

Molly isn't the gorgeous pouting supermodel pictured above, but rather

"...the founder of the School of Psychic Studies. She is a channel [sic], medium and clairvoyant. She teaches all aspecct of the psychic sciences and has helped many women to lose weight and stay thin..."

How, I wonder, does she do that? Why, with a "Psychic Slimming" service, of course!

"Psychic Slimming - Lose Weight! Keep it off! Stop Comfort Eating - Love Your New Body - What would you be like if you were thin? If you could eat whatever you wish and stay thin? If you could lose that weight for good and be like others? I will tune into spirit [sic] and find out why you have a weight issue and then psychically clear it and heal you."

Although the service is quite expensive - £85.00, according to her flyer - who could resist the opportunity to meet a future Nobel Prize winner? ASA complaint follows!

"I write to complain about a flyer I picked up at the "Mind - Body - Soul" exhibition in London on 2nd October this year.

The flyer, for Molly Ann Fairley of the "School of Psychic Studies", promotes a "psychic slimming" service costing £85.

I suspect that the flyer may be in breach of two sections of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP) code (2010). I can provide the original flyer by post, if necessary.

1. The flyer contains the text:

"The School of Psychic Studies - Psychic Slimming - Lose Weight! Keep it off! Stop Comfort Eating - Love Your New Body - What would you be like if you were thin? If you could eat whatever you wish and stay thin? If you could lose that weight for good and be like others? I will tune into spirit [sic] and find out why you have a weight issue and then psychically clear it and heal you."

2. Under Section 13.1 of the CAP Code, I challenge whether the advertiser can substantiate her claim permanently to reduce the weight of her clients using her psychic powers.

3. Under Section 13.8 and in relation to the text "What would you be like...If you could eat whatever you wish and stay thin?", I challenge whether the flyer gives prominence to the role of diet, and whether it gives the impression that "dieters...can eat as much as they like and still lose weight".

4. I confirm that I have no connections with the advertiser. I confirm that I am not involved in legal proceedings with the advertiser."