In December, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) issued a warning to businesses and individuals who are targeting members of the public with ads for weight-loss prescription-only medicines (POMs). It has put advertisers on notice, making clear that anyone involved in creating and publishing these ads needs to get their house in order: understand and stick to the rules or face sanctions.  

Alongside its warning, the ASA is launching a cross-organisational project that will involve a rolling programme of monitoring, investigation, enforcement action and partnership working to identify and tackle the nature and scale of non-compliance. 

We have been taking action on this issue since 2021 when we issued a joint Enforcement Notice with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The ASA is aware, however, through its own proactive monitoring that ads for these products continue to appear. From paid-for online ads to social media and via influencers, various prescription-only medicines including Ozempic, Wegovy (semaglutide), Saxenda (liraglutide) and products such as ‘skinny jabs’ and ‘flab jabs’, are being advertised against the rules.

 This is an area where there is a clear and significant risk of harm from irresponsible ads. So, what are the dos and don’ts of advertising these weight-loss medicines? 

Simply put, weight-loss drugs that are POMs should only be prescribed by a qualified medical professional. Reflecting this, the law and the advertising rules prohibit them from being advertised directly or indirectly to the public. That includes claims on companies’ websites, including pharmacies. 

If in doubt, here are some key things to remember: 

• Don’t advertise POMs to the public. 

• Promote the “consultation” itself, rather than the product.

• Don’t claim customers can achieve a specific rate or amount of weight loss. 

• Don’t refer to an excessively fast rate of weight loss in individuals. 

• Don’t feature health professionals or celebrities. 

• Don’t use irresponsible claims or imagery. 

• Don’t use before and after photographs. 

• Take care with price lists.

• Where permitted, information must be balanced and factual.

The ASA is harnessing its Active Ad Monitoring system to collect relevant ads across a range of online channels (including search and social), leading to intelligence on the scale of the problem, priority channels and advertisers; allowing our Compliance team to take action. 

An apple a day might keep the doctor away but publishing a POM ad is an illegal practice. Don’t ‘weight’ for the ASA to come knocking. If you need advice on non-broadcast ads, the Copy Advice team would be happy to help. 

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