Weight loss drug ads banned for exploiting body image insecurities

One of the ads perpetuated pressures on new mothers, the advertising watchdog says

The advertising watchdog has banned several adverts for prescription-only weight loss medications, citing concerns they exploit “people’s insecurities around body image”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned social media promotions from Chequp, SkinnyJab, and MedExpress.

These were found to violate regulations that forbid advertising prescription-only medicines (POMs) directly to the public.

Two of the banned campaigns raised “serious social responsibility concerns”, according to the ASA.

One such example from MedExpress featured a woman looking in a mirror, accompanied by text saying: “I wish I knew sooner that I could lose post-baby weight with a medicated weight loss treatment from MedExpress.”

The ASA said that this ad “encouraged new mothers to prioritise losing weight by using weight loss medication, exploited their insecurities about body image and perpetuated pressures for them to conform to body image stereotypes”.

It also found that the ad was “irresponsible”, as weight loss medications carry warnings for those who are breastfeeding.

The ASA said one ad ‘exploited’ new mothers’ insecurities about body image (Getty/iStock)

MedExpress told the ASA that it believed the ad did not expressively suggest that losing weight was a priority after birth and there had been no intention to use gender stereotypes in the ad.

The Chequp ad included an image of a woman looking at herself in a mirror and text reading “I don’t want to be skinny. I just don’t want to be the biggest person in the room”, the watchdog said.

The ASA found this ad also “irresponsibly exploited people’s insecurities” regarding body image through suggesting there was “a stigma associated with being a certain size”.

Responding to the ASA, Chequp said it had intentionally used an individual who appeared significantly overweight, that it believed the ad did not give the impression being overweight was undesirable or that people of a healthy weight should try to lose weight.

Jess Tye, regulatory projects manager at the ASA, said: “Both the law and our rules make clear that POMs cannot be promoted directly to the public.

“And today’s rulings also send a clear message that it’s not acceptable for ads to play on people’s insecurities around body image.

“This is a priority area for us and we’ve got further work under way to ensure people are protected from irresponsible and illegal weight-loss POM ads.”

The bans come as part of an ongoing crackdown by the ASA, which is working with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and General Pharmaceutical Council to tackle ads promoting weight-loss POMs.