Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) chief executive Guy Parker today (June 23) said that he is “confident” the regulator will “get on top of” the advertising of POMs such as weight loss drugs online and via social media.
Speaking at a Westminster Media Forum conference on the future of UK online advertising in response to C+D questioning, he stressed that “it’s not a question of how you advertise them - you’re just not allowed to because they’re POMs”.
Read more: Pharmacies must ‘immediately’ remove weight-loss ads, regulators warn
While there are some “blurry edges of the boundaries” around what constitutes an ad for a weight loss POM, it is “one of these relatively rare binary ad regulatory issues [where] it doesn’t require much judgment of individual ads and their targeting”, he said.
“There have been too many clear cut ads for weight loss injectables appearing, particularly online, particularly on social,” he told C+D.
No excuse
Parker also told delegates that influencer advertising on social media is a “rapidly evolving space” that is “only going to get bigger and more important”.
But he stressed that a “lack of awareness of the rules is not an excuse” anymore for people to break advertising guidelines.
“While many influencers are being transparent about when their content is advertising and the direction of travel is positive, there are still too many who are falling short,” he added.
Read more: Weight loss clinic admits affiliate codes shared ‘against regulations’
“Both the ASA and online users...expect compliance rates to be significantly higher than they currently are,” Parker said.
“One of the most important things when it comes to influencer advertising” is that the public “must always know when they are being advertised to”, he told delegates.
“Both brands and influencers have a responsibility to make sure the content of ads makes that clear and does so upfront,” he added.
34,000 ads targeted
Touching on the joint enforcement notice issued with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) in April, Parker reiterated that pharmacies should not advertise weight loss drugs or other POMs via social media.
The notice stressed that pharmacies can still come under fire for “advertising a POM without identifying it by name”.
And Parker told delegates that “it really ought not to be beyond [the regulators] working collectively to get the overwhelming majority of [pharmacies] to comply” with the guidance.
Read more: ‘New front line’: MHRA removes 150 social media posts selling fake weight loss drugs
The ASA “secured the amendment or withdrawal of nearly 34,000 ads” in 2024, with “around 90% of them” found online, he said.
“There were a lot of ads for illegal-to-advertise-to-the-public prescription medicines,” he said, adding that “online continues to be the most complained about area” for the ASA.
Read more: Weight loss: Online pharmacy influencer discount codes shot down
It comes after health minister Karin Smyth said that the GPhC has the government’s “full” backing to “tackle the misuse of weight loss medications” earlier this month.
“We are clear they have our full support to crack down on services that are putting people in danger,” she stressed at the time.
And a weight loss clinic last month threatened to “withhold” the commission of its affiliate scheme members after discovering some were sharing discount codes along with pricing information and medication names.
