A TV ad for the Church of Scientology has been banned by the UK's advertising watchdog for making unsubstantiated claims about how many people have received aid from the organisation.
The advert showed Scientology volunteers helping people in need. In one example, a group was shown carrying a person on a stretcher and another character was shown with a stethoscope around her neck, holding a baby.
It featured on-screen text which made a number of claims, including that it had taught 19 million people about illicit drugs and tens of millions about their human rights, and had given aid to 24 million people "in times of need".
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated complaints on three points after a viewer challenged whether the numbers cited in the ad were accurate.
The Church of Scientology, which was founded in 1954 and has famous followers including Tom Cruise and John Travolta, believes all humans have past lives and are essentially good.
It defended the claims and said 17.8 million people were recorded as having attended drug education lectures and that 1.9 million had attended its "Truth About Drugs" lectures and events.
It also insisted that 133 million people had viewed its short film about human rights.
However, the watchdog upheld the complaint against the claim that the church had given aid to millions.
The Church of Scientology said 24 million people had been helped by volunteer ministers, who bring physical, mental, and spiritual assistance to people in need.
Volunteers also frequently helped support people in remote places and in disaster zones, it said, and worked with community leaders, government officials, and other relief organisations.
However, the ASA considered the evidence provided to support the claims was "anecdotal" and not enough to substantiate the number. It also had concerns over how the number of people helped was calculated and what the body included as aid.
"We considered viewers were likely to interpret 'giving aid' to mean the church provided direct aid, in forms such as medical assistance, rescuing victims and providing food, water, and shelter," the ASA said in its decision.
"Because we had not been provided with suitable evidence to show how the specific figure of 24 million had been calculated and that it was accurate, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was likely to mislead viewers.
"The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told the Church of Scientology International to ensure they held adequate evidence for any claims."
The Church of Scientology was contacted but had not responded at the time of writing.