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A company distributing self-swab DNA testing kits intended for sexual assault survivors has been prohibited from posting certain online content due to misleading claims. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that Enough’s promotional materials, including its website, LinkedIn page, and GoFundMe campaign, contained unsubstantiated statements about the legal effectiveness of evidence collected with their kits and exaggerated statistics on the number of rapes occurring annually in the UK.
Sir Martin Narey, former head of England and Wales’ Prison and Probation Services, filed the complaint against Enough’s advertisements. He expressed concern that the company’s messaging was causing unnecessary fear among young women and their parents by overstating the likelihood of being raped. ASA representative Miles Lockwood also criticized the posts for lacking sufficient evidence, prompting Enough to amend the wording in their materials in accordance with the ASA’s ruling.
Enough, established in Bristol, claimed that women are twice as likely to be raped as they are to be diagnosed with cancer and referenced figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that were described as inflated. While ONS data recorded 71,227 reported rapes in 2024, Enough suggested actual incidents might be significantly higher due to underreporting. However, this assertion, alongside the implication that DNA evidence from their kits would likely be admissible in court, was challenged and disallowed by the ASA.
The company began distributing kits for free to students at Bristol last year and sells them online for £20. These kits enable individuals who suspect they have been sexually assaulted to collect DNA samples at home, which are then tested and results stored. Despite Enough’s view that the kits can help deter assaults and offer survivors an alternative reporting method, the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine and other experts have expressed concerns. They stated these kits lack support due to the risk of putting survivors at risk without proper guidance. Following the ASA’s intervention, Enough has revised their messaging to clarify that evidence from their kits “can in principle be admissible in court” and to reference an “estimated” number of rapes, while emphasizing that formal reporting channels remain the preferred option for survivors
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