Standard for Professional Practice: Advertising

The College is holding a public consultation on the Standard: Advertising.Gathering feedback and comments from the public, the profession, and other interested groups helps the College to develop Standards and policies that best support the College’s work in protecting the public interest.
All feedback is appreciated—both what you think works well and what you think does not work well. Please note your comments submitted online will be published anonymously and you are welcome to read what others have said by clicking the button that says Interested in Reading What Others Said?—Read Their Comments Here.

If you’d like to compare the current Standard with the proposed Standard below, click here to see the current Standard: Standard for Professional Practice: AdvertisingLink opens in a new window

Proposed Standard: Advertising

1. Authority and responsibility

   Physiotherapists are responsible for any advertisement on their behalf.

2. Truth in advertising

   Advertisements must be true, accurate, and verifiable. This means that the physiotherapist must be able to prove that the information in the ad is true.

   Ads must be easy for consumers to understand. They must not mislead by including irrelevant or inaccurate information. Nor should they mislead by leaving out information that is relevant.

3. Advertising content

   Advertisements must only contain information about services for conditions that the physiotherapist is competent to diagnose and to treat.

   Ads must not state or imply a guarantee of treatment results.

   Ads must not contain any direct, indirect, or implied testimonials or endorsements. This includes references to third-party websites or publications that carry testimonials or endorsements. If the ads refer to awards or rankings that a physiotherapist has received, the physiotherapist must be able to prove that they had no influence on the selection process.

4. Claims of superiority

   Any advertisement in which a provider states or implies that their services are better than those offered by others must be supported by true, accurate, and verifiable data.

   A claim of quality or superiority must never disparage or discredit other members of the College.

   Advertisements must not state or imply that a certain brand or product is better than others.

5. Advertising about prices

   If an ad offers discounted prices for packaged or bundled services, it must clearly state that there is still the option to buy one service at a time. It must also make it clear that unused services will be refunded.