Crossbow Visual Stress Solutions

Hype springs eternal when it comes to the claims made for visual stress treatments. Exploratory studies are misrepresented as hypothesis testing and embellished with p-values that mean almost nothing. In turn, these over-hyped studies are used for marketing. However, even by the standards of visual stress promotions, the claims below made on the Crossbow Visual Stress Solutions website are pretty remarkable and are likely to contravene the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidelines.

Questionable claims to increase productivity and reduce lost work days
through the treatment of visual stress

So on with the questionable stuff. In the figure above, it is claimed that-
1) Reduced headaches and migraines (through the use of overlays). In general evidence for this is weak. There is one underpowered study using Precision Tinted Lenses but to the best of my knowledge none using Crossbow overlays.
2) Fewer lost work days. I have done a few literature searches and can find nothing to back up this claim. It is of note that no source is provided on the website.
3) Increased productivity. Now that really is a claim and if it was true you would have industry beating on your door. Again, unfortunately,  I can find nothing to back this up.
4) 1in 5 people affected. There are few epidemiological studies of visual stress and most of those are underpowered and have methodological problems. The largest study by a group with no financial interest in visual stress treatment products suggested a figure of about 5.5% of participants with dyslexia and 8.5% of normal readers (difference not statistically significant). See blog post of December 18

I have made a fresh complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority so let's see what happens. In some respects, I think Crossbow provide a socially useful function. They respond to a demand and provide inexpensive overlays that are unlikely to be better or worse than more expensive products prescribed by 'visual stress specialists' - that is to say equally ineffective.  If it keeps people away from Irlen practitioners and Colorimetry enthusiasts that is a good thing. Nonetheless, Crossbow Visual Stress Solutions should only make claims that are proportionate to the available evidence. The claims made on their website go way beyond that.

Postscript 5/2/19

I received the following reply from the ASA

Dear Mr Griffiths,

Thank you for contacting the ASA with your complaint about Crossbow Education.

We’ve assessed your complaint, and consider the ad may have breached our Codes. We have taken steps to address this.

We have explained your concerns to the advertiser and provided guidance to them on the areas that require attention, together with advice on how to ensure that their advertising complies with the Codes in future.

Thank you once again for taking the time to raise your concerns with us. Comments such as yours help us to understand the issues that matter to consumers and we will keep a record of your complaint on file for use in future monitoring. If you would like more information about our complaint handling principles, please visit our website at  https://www.asa.org.uk/Consumers/How-to-complain.aspx.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Elmahdi

Complaints Executive

Direct line 020 7492 2165

The misleading information has now been removed from the visual stress solution website. A small success for visual-stress-sceptic.