Don’t fall foul of drug advertising rules
Make sure you get your adverts right when it comes to prescription-only medicines. Victoria Avery, of the Advertising Standards Authority, spells out the rules and offers help to doctors and clinics who want to ensure they comply.
As the regulator for the advertising of prescription-only medicines, the Advertising Standards Authority takes its responsibility seriously and we expect any practitioners advertising their services to do the same.
And when it comes to prescription-only medicines, the rules are simple: they can’t be advertised to the public.
In practice, this strictly limits where and how ads can talk about products like Botox, Kenalog or Viagra, among others. It’s important that consumers are protected, and so advertisers need to understand and follow our rules or risk their ads being banned.
Following legislation, the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing (the CAP Code) expressly states that prescription-only medicines or prescription-only medical treatments may not be advertised to the public.
This covers all forms of advertising, from websites to social media to leaflets.
Ads can mention the consultation for a treatment that would use a prescription-only medicine; for example, ‘a consultation for lines and wrinkles’ or ‘a consultation for erectile dysfunction’ is likely to be acceptable.
But we view virtually any reference to a prescription-only medicine as promoting that medicine, and therefore a breach of rules. Stick to talking about the consultation and don’t mention the medicine.
No celebrities
Ads must not use any celebrities or health professionals to market their products.
They mustn’t mislead consumers, exaggerate the efficacy of any treatments or omit any relevant terms and conditions for treatment.
They can’t use ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures and they should be responsible, avoiding playing on people’s insecurities or offering inappropriate pricing deals.
An ad mentioning ‘Back-to-school Botox’ was banned by the ASA
For example, this year we banned an ad that mentioned ‘Back-to-school Botox’, for both advertising a prescription-only medicine and also exploiting women’s securities about their bodies and the ageing process.
When it comes to websites, very limited references to prescription-only medicines may be acceptable as long as they don’t appear on the home page and claims don’t go beyond balanced and factual information typically found in the patient information leaflet, ‘summary of product characteristics’ or similar non-promotional information that comes with the product.
It should also be presented as a potential outcome of a consultation. Casually browsing consumers must not be able to come across information relating to prescription-only medicines with ease.
Factual information only
You may include a price list – but not on the homepage – with a range of treatments available. But the price list should not include claims about the prescription-only products or actively encourage viewers to choose a product based on the price, such as a discount price offer.
There are a few exceptions. Prescription-only medicines can be advertised to the medical, dental, veterinary and allied professions but, again, the ads should only focus on balanced and factual information about the products and not make any claims outside of that.
The advertising of prescription-only medicines, particularly online, remains a high priority concern for us. That’s why we’re taking action to ensure that advertisers understand our rules and are following them.
Pro-active regulation
Thanks to our data science team, we’re moving to a more pro-active method of regulation, processing more ads than ever before to quickly get those that are a problem banned.
Our rolling programme of monitoring and enforcement ensures that advertisers know what the rules are and follow them carefully. Working with Meta, we’ve seen 50,000 Botox ads removed from social media since 2020 and we’re consistently taking action against ads that break our rules in this space.
If you’re offering treatments that use prescription-only medicines and you’re not sure if your ads follow the rules, the ASA can help.
We offer a copy advice service that offers free advice about any ad campaign you’re thinking of running. We provide a 24-hour turnaround service or, if your query is urgent, for a fee we can provide advice with a four-hour turnaround. Head over to our website www.asa.org.uk for more information.
We know the vast majority of advertisers want to get it right. Our rules are designed to protect consumers, so it’s vital that you understand how they work. And if you’re ever unsure, get in touch.
Victoria Avery (right) is an investigations executive at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
