Ad description
Two display ads for MYA Cosmetic Surgery seen on the Quizlet website, an online resource providing tools for studying:
a. The first display ad, seen on 26 March 2024, stated “MYA COSMETIC SURGERY Fat removal can be a great solution! Book your FREE consultation”.
b. The second display ad, seen on 9 April 2024, stated “MYA COSMETIC SURGERY” and showed two photos of a woman’s torso side-by-side that were labelled “Before” and “After”. In the “After” photo, the woman appeared slimmer.
Issue
Two complainants challenged whether the ads were directed at those below 18 years of age through the selection of media or context in which they appeared.
Response
MYA Clinics Ltd t/a MYA Cosmetic Surgery said that the ads should not have been targeted at under-18s. They were fully aware that their ads for cosmetic surgery should only be targeted at over-18s and apologised for this error. They stated that they typically implemented block lists in order to address irrelevant website traffic. They said that in this case, Quizlet was not on a block list. They were now reviewing all sites they advertised on and had block-listed education sites, including Quizlet.
Match2One, the programmatic advertising platform used by MYA Cosmetic Surgery, said that the ads had been correctly categorised as cosmetic surgery and their external audit partner had confirmed that.
Quizlet Inc said that it was their mission to help students learn effectively and safely on their platform and that they took ad safety very seriously. They stated that Quizlet’s policy prohibited ads for any health or medical procedures, including cosmetic surgery, from appearing on their website, regardless of the age of the user. They said that they had blocks on their site related to medical procedures, but that these blocks were reliant on the ads being correctly categorised by the advertiser. They stated that although their ad tools allowed them to block certain ad categories, including medical procedures, the technology available could not guarantee that 100% of such ads would be blocked. Quizlet confirmed that the majority of their users were aged 18 or over and they provided confidential information on the age demographic of its account holders.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code required that marketing communications for cosmetic interventions must not be directed at those aged below 18 years through the selection of media or context in which they appeared. Advertising Guidance stated that for non-broadcast advertising, ads for cosmetic interventions should not be placed in media that are aimed at under-18s, and in media in which 25% or more of the audience profile is under-18. The ads, which appeared on the Quizlet website, advertised fat removal surgery and promoted a free consultation to discuss the surgery. Furthermore, ad (b) showed “Before” and “After” photos of a woman’s torso to demonstrate the results of the procedure. We therefore considered that the ads were marketing communications for cosmetic interventions.
We understood that, when placing the ads, MYA Cosmetic Surgery had not excluded any education sites, including Quizlet, from their targeting. When considering complaints about the targeting of age-restricted ads, the ASA firstly assessed whether the media in which the ad was served was appropriate. The ASA understood that Quizlet was aimed at students of all ages including under-18s, and included GCSE and A-level content. We also understood that many students in Scotland started university at the age of 17 and therefore any degree-level content would be relevant to that group. As such, we considered that the website would have been of interest to some under-18s, and we therefore expected MYA Cosmetic Surgery to demonstrate that less than 25% of the total Quizlet website audience was under 18 years of age. Furthermore, we understood that one of the complainants was under 18, and the other had been on an A-level related webpage when they saw the ads.
We assessed the demographic data on their account holders which Quizlet had provided to us. Whilst the majority of account holders were registered as aged 18 and older, a significant proportion of account holders were aged under 18. It was also possible for younger users to misreport their age. Furthermore, we understood that users did not have to have an account in order to use some of the features of the website. Whilst we had therefore not seen demographic data for all website users, we considered that the nature of the site and the demographic data provided strongly indicated that a significant proportion of website users were under 18. We therefore considered that the website was not an appropriate media in which to place ads for cosmetic interventions.
We considered that MYA Cosmetic Surgery had not taken sufficient care to ensure that the ads for cosmetic surgery were directed at an audience aged 18 and over, and therefore concluded that the ads had not been targeted responsibly. The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.25 (Cosmetic Interventions).
Action
We told MYA Clinics Ltd t/a MYA Cosmetic Surgery to ensure that their ads were appropriately targeted in future.
