The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld two complaints against Bolt Pharmacy over ads posted to a Facebook page that the company admitted to operating.
The ASA said yesterday that it had investigated two Facebook ads by Bolt Healthcare, trading as Bolt Pharmacy, that were shared on a page called “UK Weight Loss Reviews” and seen on April 1.
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It said the first ad featured a caption that said “Bolt Pharmacy offers genuine weight loss treatments at rock-bottom prices” and “weight loss treatments are prescription-only and subject to approval”.
The video for the ad included a “comparison chart” that presented Bolt’s weight loss drug prices as lower than other providers, and was accompanied by on-screen text and a voiceover claiming that Bolt Pharmacy offers the “UK’s best-price weight loss treatment”.
The second ad featured a caption that said Bolt Pharmacy “gives you the same trusted, UK-regulated medications at the UK’s lowest prices”.
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The video for the ad featured a woman who claimed to have found Bolt Pharmacy after paying “ridiculous” prices for “weight loss meds”.
She stated that the company offered “the best price in the UK” and told viewers that “the sooner you get it, the sooner you’ll be looking great”.
ASA ruling
The ASA said consumers would understand that a page named “UK Weight Loss Reviews” was an independent organisation providing “unbiased reviews on weight loss products in the UK”.
Given the name of the page, the regulator found that “claims comparing Bolt’s prices with other providers in the market added to the impression that the ads had been placed by an independent review site” comparing weight loss treatments.
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“However, we understood that was not the case, that Bolt Pharmacy operated UK Weight Loss Reviews and had therefore posted the ads,” it said.
It concluded that the ads “falsely implied Bolt Pharmacy was acting for purposes outside its business and did not make clear their commercial intent”, and had therefore breached advertising rules on the recognition of marketing communications.
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The ASA also found that the first ad’s reference to “weight loss treatments” that were “prescription-only” amounted to promoting prescription-only medicines (POMs) to the public, which is against the law.
It noted that both Facebook ads “linked through to an age gate”, which “functioned as a means of asking the user to confirm that they were old enough to use the site’s services before continuing to the landing page”.
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The regulator said the landing page for both ads included text referring to the POMs Wegovy and Mounjaro, as well as “images of branded injection pens”, and that consumers who had clicked through to the landing page “were actively presented with POMs”.
It added that it sought advice from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which “expressed concern that the ads were likely to lead to the use of a POM”.
“May have misled”
In its response to the ASA, Bolt Pharmacy confirmed that it ran the Facebook page - and acknowledged that its presentation “did not make sufficiently clear its commercial relationship” with the company and “may have misled consumers”.
The pharmacy said it had stopped all ads from the Facebook page and was “reviewing their use of the page in the future”.
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Bolt Pharmacy also acknowledged that the “use of an age gate may not have been a sufficient barrier to prevent POMs from being promoted to the public”.
It said it has since made changes to its “advertising and consumer journeys, to ensure that ads focused on the clinical services only”.
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And it added that it takes its regulatory obligations “seriously” and had updated its marketing practices to align with MHRA guidance.
The ASA warned Bolt Pharmacy that the ads “must not appear again in the form complained of” and said the company must ensure future advertisements made its “commercial intent clear and did not falsely claim or imply they were acting for purposes outside their trade”.
The pharmacy was also told “not to promote POMs to the public in future”.
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It comes after the MHRA took action against Bolt Pharmacy over ads for weight loss POMs in April.
And it follows a survey by Pharmacy2U revealing that over half of Brits would feel “comfortable disregarding clinical guidance” on how to use weight management drugs.
