The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is cracking down on weight-loss jab adverts, upholding a number of complaints about promotions online, including one by reality television star Gemma Collins.
The UK watchdog has taken action against nine advertisers which were found to have promoted weight-loss drugs to consumers.
It is against the law to advertise prescription-only medicines (POM) to the public in the UK.
This is the case even where adverts do not explicitly name the medicine, the ASA said.
An Instagram post by Collins, who previously starred in reality television show The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE), which promoted weight loss service Yazen was among the adverts rapped by the regulator.
Collins did not name the medication, but the star talked about her use of it, as well as Yazen’s weight-loss app and other services in the post on 6 January this year.
The ASA, which sought advice from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) when making its decision, said it “considered that the reference to ‘weight loss medication’ in the ad was a reference to POMs and that the ad therefore promoted POMs to the public”.
The ASA added: “For those reasons, we concluded the ad breached the code.”.
Collins said she would comply with ASA guidance and Yazen said it would ensure future posts were compliant.
Online adverts by HealthExpress.co.uk, Phlo Clinic, SemaPen, pharmaacyonline.co.uk, Chequp Health, Juniper Technologies and Cloud Pharmacy were also rapped.
The watchdog said it has been using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to monitor weight-loss jab adverts and launch proactive investigations.
It follows a warning by the regulator and the MHRA about adverts for weight-loss prescription-only medicines last year.
It put advertisers “on notice” that they must follow the rules or face sanctions.
In its latest update, the ASA said: “The law prohibits POMs from being advertised to the public for good reason.
“These are powerful drugs which can only be prescribed after consultation with a medical professional and require appropriate medical supervision.
“They are not a cosmetic treatment to be used without serious consideration and advertisers should not be promoting them to the public.”
The latest rulings “set clear precedents” for advertisers, the regulator said, predominantly pharmacies.
It explained that not only is naming weight-loss drugs banned, but use of claims and images around their use which indirectly promote them are prohibited too.
The ASA said: “Claims including ‘weight loss injections’, ‘weight loss pen’, ‘obesity treatment jab’ and ‘GLP-1’ are references to weight-loss POMs and are not allowed.
“Abbreviating the name of a weight-loss POM is also a problem.”
The ASA continued: ”In the context of an ad for a weight-loss POM treatment, even when the medicines are not explicitly featured in an ad, using certain imagery will also break the rules.
“That means unbranded medical injection pens, partial images of an advertiser branded medical injection pen and images of a vial of liquid on the front, cannot be featured in ads.”
The watchdog said further investigations are ongoing, with rulings expected to follow, the bulk of which involve affiliate advertisers.