The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against online pharmacy Phlo over an ad that it said promoted prescription-only weight loss drugs to the public.
In a ruling published today, the ASA said it had investigated a paid-for Facebook ad by Morrisons Clinic, the online private prescription service launched by supermarket Morrisons in partnership with Phlo last year.
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It said the ad, seen in February, included text that stated: “Morrisons Clinic weight loss service. From £79 a month, get access to our UK team of experts for monthly check-ins, ensuring you feel safe and supported on your weight loss journey”.
The ad also featured an image that read, “Why pay more for weight loss? Morrisons Clinic Together with Phlo £79. Market average weight loss service £103”, while a button featured the text “start today”, the regulator added.
Companies’ response
In their response to the ASA, Morrisons and Phlo argued that the ad “promoted a weight management service” rather than prescription-only medicines (POMs).
They said the ad “referred to clinical support and the starting price only and did not name or show any medicines”, and the landing page “contained general service information only”.
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This means “casual browsers were therefore not exposed to POM content”, they added.
The companies said users could then choose either the “Get started” page, which “remained focused on the service”, or the “I’d like to switch treatments” page, which “included named treatments and pricing” and “was reached only after an active user choice and formed part of a more specific pathway linked to clinical assessment”.
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Morrisons and Phlo said the journey “was not a simple click-through from the ad to POM content”, but was “a structured and conditional interaction”.
And the ASA noted that they “sought to interpret available guidance in a manner consistent with the principle of ensuring that casual browsers were not exposed to POMs”.
ASA assessment
The ASA’s stance, following guidance laid out in the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) ‘The Blue Guide’, was that a website homepage “should focus on medical conditions and the service the website provided and not include any reference to named POMs”.
The regulator said “landing pages from paid-for ads on social media were akin to a homepage” - and that the “Get started” page presented to consumers was not the landing page, but rather a “filtering page” that directed people to a landing page “based on their selection”.
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While this page contained information about the service, it added, there was also a reference to an “at-home, self-injectable pen designed to aid weight loss when injected once-weekly and used consistently” further down.
The ASA noted that “all injectable forms of weight-loss medication were POMs” and therefore considered the reference to a “self-injectable pen” as “an implied reference to a POM”.
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It said the page in question also included an “image of an order confirmation displayed on a phone” which included text referring to “Mounjaro KwikPen 5mg”, which is a POM.
The ASA also highlighted that the page accessed via the “I’d like to switch treatments” option featured a comparison between Mounjaro and Wegovy, both weight loss POMs.
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It determined that consumers who clicked on either the “Get started” or “I’d like to switch treatment” option were “actively presented with POMs”, rather than information about particular conditions and diseases.
And because the pages linked to from the ad referenced POMs, the ad therefore “promoted POMs to the public”, it said.
Breach of code
The regulator added that it also sought advice from the MHRA, which “expressed concern that the ad was likely to lead to the use of a POM”.
It concluded that the ad promoted POMs to the public and had breached advertising laws against doing so.
The ASA told Phlo and Morrisons that the ad “must not appear again in the form complained of” and said the companies must not promote POMs to the public in future.
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It comes after the advertising regulator upheld complaints against both Voy Pharmacy and Juniper over weight loss ads in recent months.
And it follows Tesco Pharmacy facing MHRA action over a weight loss POM ad last week.