Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on ads making claims about the treatment of prostate issues. The ad was identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules. See also related rulings published on 31 July 2024.
Ad description
A paid-for Meta ad for Nultqh GB, seen on 8 March 2024, included text that stated “Specialize in male prostate! One patch to solve the problem of frequent urination and urgency […] easily say goodbye to the prostate problems […]”. The ad included an image of a pack shot which included text that stated “PROSTATE PATCH NATURAL HERBAL INGREDIENTS […] EASILY SOLVE YOUR TROUBLES” and ticked bullet points with text that stated “Frequent urination & urgent urination”, “Hyperplasia and hypertrophy”, “Painful urination” and “Abdominal distension”. Further text in the image stated “Based on clinical results 92% Prostate related pain 90% Reduced urgency & frequency […]”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad breached the Code because it made medicinal claims for an unlicensed product.
Response
Person(s) unknown t/a Nultqh GB did not respond to the ASA enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Person(s) unknown t/a Nultqh GB’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code as well as their failure to provide their full name and geographical business address, which were in breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.7 (Unreasonable delay) and 1.7.1 (Compliance). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a response to our enquiries without delay and told them to do so in the future.
The CAP Code stated that medicinal claims and indications could only be made for a medicinal product that was licensed by the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or under the auspices of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A medicinal claim was a claim that a product or its constituent(s) could be used with a view to make a medical diagnosis or could treat or prevent disease, including an injury, ailment or adverse condition, whether of body or mind, in human beings.
We considered that consumers would understand the claims “One patch to solve the problem of frequent urination and urgency […] easily say goodbye to the prostate problems”, “EASILY SOLVE YOUR TROUBLES Frequent urination & urgent urination Hyperplasia and hypertrophy Painful urination Abdominal distension”, and “Based on clinical results 92% Prostate related pain 90% Reduced urgency & frequency […]” to mean that the patch could treat prostate issues including those related to pain and urination, as well as an enlarged prostate. We therefore considered those were medicinal claims which required the product be licensed as a medicine.
However, we understood that the product did not have the relevant marketing authorisation from the MHRA and because of that no medicinal claims could be made for the product. Because the ad made medicinal claims for a product which was not licensed, we concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 12.1 and 12.11 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Person(s) unknown t/a Nultqh GB not to make medicinal claims for unlicensed products. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
