The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned social media ads for Chequp, SkinnyJab and MedExpress, saying they broke the law and the watchdog’s rules which prohibit the advertising of POMs to the public.
Two of the banned ads raised “serious social responsibility concerns”, the ASA said, including one by MedExpress which included the text “I wish I knew sooner that I could lose post-baby weight with a medicated weight loss treatment from MedExpress” and featured images of a woman viewing herself in a mirror.
The ASA said it found this ad “encouraged new mothers to prioritise losing weight by using weight-loss medication, exploited their insecurities about body image and perpetuated pressures for them to conform to body image stereotypes” as well as being “irresponsible” as weight-loss medications carry warnings for those who are breastfeeding.
MedExpress told the ASA it believed the ad did not expressively suggest losing weight was a priority after birth and there had been no intention to use gender stereotypes in the ad.
The Chequp ad included an image of a woman looking at herself in a mirror and text reading “I don’t want to be skinny. I just don’t want to be the biggest person in the room”, the watchdog said.
The ASA found this ad also “irresponsibly exploited people’s insecurities” regarding body image through suggesting there was “a stigma associated with being a certain size”.
Responding to the ASA, Chequp said it had intentionally used an individual who appeared significantly overweight, that it believed the ad did not give the impression being overweight was undesirable or that people of a healthy weight should try to lose weight.
Jess Tye, regulatory projects manager at the ASA, said: “Both the law and our rules make clear that POMs cannot be promoted directly to the public.
“And today’s rulings also send a clear message that it’s not acceptable for ads to play on people’s insecurities around body image.
“This is a priority area for us and we’ve got further work under way to ensure people are protected from irresponsible and illegal weight-loss POM ads.”
The bans come as part of an ongoing crackdown by the ASA, which is working with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and General Pharmaceutical Council to tackle ads promoting weight-loss POMs.