Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on sclerotherapy treatments, identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by the ASA. See also related rulings published on 26 April 2023.
Ad description
Two ads, posted on 24 October 2022, by the Facebook account of the beauty salon Chala’s Beauty Box:
a. A Facebook post advertising sclerotherapy, a procedure for the treatment of thread veins. Text stated “Sclerotherapy is a procedure used to treat blood vessel malformations and also malformations of the lymphatic system. A medicine is injected into the vessels, which makes them shrink. Sclerotherapy involves injecting a solution directly into the vein.” An accompanying photo showed an example of a thread vein sufferer’s leg.
b. A Facebook reel featured a video of a person wearing pink gloves, injecting a solution into another person’s thigh. Expandable text at the bottom of the reel stated “Sclerotherapy … NEW TREATMENT … What is Sclerotherapy? … Sclerotherapy is a procedure used to treat blood vessel malformations and also malformations of the lymphatic system. A medicine is injected into the vessels, which makes them shrink. Sclerotherapy involves injecting a solution directly into the vein.”
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ads breached the Code because they advertised a prescription-only medicine (POM) to the public.
Response
Chala's Beauty Box said that they were a fully trained and certificated sclerotherapy practitioner. They said that the video seen in ad (b) had been filmed as part of their training, and that they had posted it on their Facebook page to gauge if there was consumer demand for the procedure. They said that at the time of the complaint, they had yet to carry out sclerotherapy treatment on any consumers. They confirmed that if a consumer did book a sclerotherapy treatment, the procedure would require the use of a POM, and that they would need to liaise with the prescriber they worked with to arrange a prescription. They said that a potential customer would have to be deemed suitable for the procedure by both themselves and the prescriber. Chala's Beauty Box said that they had deleted the ad since being made aware of the complaint, and would ensure that they did not advertise POMs in the future.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that prescription-only medicines or prescription-only medical treatments may not be advertised to the public.
The ASA understood that sclerotherapy treatments required the use of a POM.
We noted that the ads were visible to anyone visiting Chala's Beauty Box’s Facebook page. Both ads (a) and (b) stated that sclerotherapy was a procedure used to treat blood vessel malformations, and also malformations of the lymphatic system. Chala’s Beauty Box also confirmed that the treatment involved the use of a POM. While we welcomed their deletion of the ad, we therefore considered that the ads promoted a POM to the general public, and concluded that both ads breached the Code.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.12 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Chala's Beauty Box not to promote prescription-only medicines (POMs) to the general public in future marketing materials.
