The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that medicated weight loss service SheMed broke advertising rules by promoting prescription-only medicines (POMs) to the public in a paid-for Reddit ad.
In a decision published today, the regulator also found that the ad, seen on March 30, was “likely to exploit consumers’ insecurities relating to body image and weight” and was “irresponsible”.
Read more: Exclusive: GPhC takes first enforcement action over POM ads
The ASA said the ad included a headline that stated “I think ‘skinny fat’ explained why I felt stuck”.
Text underneath included “I wasn’t obese on paper, but I felt soft, tired and constantly thinking about food”, “turns out ‘skinny fat’ often comes down to body composition, hormones, and how your appetite is regulated – not just calories” and “curious if anyone else relates to the ‘skinny fat’ thing”.
The ad also featured links labelled “SheMed’s doctor-led medical weight loss programme” and “SheMed’s ‘low and slow’ programme”.
SheMed’s response
In its response to the ASA, SheMed argued that while the landing page from the “low and slow” programme link contained images of GLP-1 pens and brand names, this “was not the homepage of its website”.
The company also said that GLP-1 medicines are licensed for adults with a BMI between 27 and 30 who also have at least one weight-related comorbidity - and that while “the post stated that the individual was not obese”, it “did not state that they were not overweight”.
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It added that the post “made clear that the individual felt ‘tired’ and ‘off’, and referred to hormones” which it said “could indicate a relevant comorbidity, including conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome”.
SheMed did, however, accept that “the link between being overweight and having a comorbidity could have been made clearer in the post”.
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The company said it “did not, and would not, prescribe weight loss treatments to adults who were not overweight and did not meet the prescribing criteria”.
And it confirmed it has since removed the ad and would not run it again in the future.
Complaints upheld
The ASA said that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulator Agency’s (MHRA) guidance lays out that “landing pages from paid-for ads on social media were akin to a homepage”.
It noted that SheMed’s “low and slow” link directed consumers to a landing page featuring images of branded Wegovy and Mounjaro weight loss jabs, which are POMs.
Read more: ASA rules against Bolt Pharmacy over Facebook weight loss page
The regulator added that it sought advice from the MHRA, which “expressed concern” that providing a direct link to a landing page that “did not require any searching from the consumer to access” information about weight loss POMs “could be analogous to that of a website homepage”.
The ASA ruled that because the page linked to from the ad referenced POMs, the ad promoted POMs to the public and had breached advertising regulations.
“Likely to exploit”
The ASA also said UK advertising rules dictate that marketing communications should be prepared “with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society”.
It stressed that “particular care should be taken when preparing advertising for medicated weight loss services, given that some consumers, particularly young women, may already feel body conscious due to wider societal pressures, regardless of their actual weight or size”.
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The regulator considered that the ad’s references to “I wasn’t obese on paper” and the term “skinny fat” were “likely to be interpreted to mean” that the person referenced in the ad was “of a normal weight or underweight” but “nevertheless unhappy with their body shape”.
The ASA said the ad “did not refer to the person being overweight and having a medical condition which would constitute a weight-related comorbidity”.
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It added that the MHRA “expressed concern that the ad did not meet quality standards required for an advertisement for a medicinal product”, including being consistent with the drug’s Summary of Product Characteristics.
The regulator concluded that the ad promoted a weight loss programme as “suitable for consumers who did not meet the licensed criteria for the medicines” and was “likely to exploit consumers’ insecurities relating to body image and weight”, therefore breaching advertising rules.
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It said the ad “must not appear again in the form complained of” and warned SheMed that future advertising must be prepared “with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society”.
It comes after C+D exclusively revealed that the General Pharmaceutical Council has taken enforcement action against a pharmacy over the advertisement of POMs for the first time.
And it follows the MHRA revealing that nine of the 13 adverts deemed to have breached legislation in July concerned weight loss POMs.
