When the juicing in your ads doesn’t involve fruit
Let’s warm up with the basics. If you are advertising prescription-only medicines (POMS) to the public, your ads will immediately come off injured. Anabolic steroids, though not typically our ball game, if they fall foul of CAP Code 12.12, we’ll be quick out the gates taking action. Ads for Kenalog and other prescription-only steroid injections are almost certainly coming up short of the finish line. Keep this in mind to avoid an injury before the game even starts.
You can’t just run with the ball when it comes to health and disease claims
Food supplements and sports go together like Mo Salah and Liverpool FC. However, much like the 2025-26 season, your reigning champion ads may find themselves underperforming. You’ll be 1-0 down in the first minute if your food supplement makes claims to prevent, treat or cure human disease. Making an unauthorised health claim? Avoid going 2-0 down by making sure you look at the GB Nutrition and Health Claims register first. Subbing on a general health claim? Make sure you support it with an approved health claim or you’ll be 3-0 in Istanbul without a generational captain to inspire a legendary comeback. Finally, you’ll lose the penalty shootout if you try and include those claims in testimonials too.
Avoid a relegation battle with your promotional offers
Promotional offers for sports supplements have been doing the rounds longer than even James Milner. If you get it right, a good promotion can be a knockout hit. The first tactical change you can make with promotions is to ensure you administer the promotion fairly. Avoid having a towel thrown in mid-fight by making sure your discount claims can be substantiated. You can big yourself up before the game but inflating your prices before a sale has sin-bin written all over it. If your introductory offers end up misleading, they’ll be headed straight to the blooper reel collection. We’ll be recommending extra training if your savings claims against the RRP’s don’t impress the fans. Lastly, run your promotional competitions properly or you’ll sat with the Italians wishing it was you on the field this summer.
“Come with me as I don’t disclose this ad properly”
Are you bringing influencers onto the field to promote your sports supplements? Make sure the commercial relationship is properly disclosed to avoid a selection headache. You’ll definitely hit a triple 20 using #ad as disclosure. Other words might hit the bullseye but #aff, #sp, #iworkwith and more will miss the target. Positioning is key not just on the pitch. Don’t run down the clock on your sports supplement ads by placing the disclosure at the end of the post where no one can see it. Marketers need to be up to date with other rules as other regulatory agencies will be scouting influencer ads that fall foul of the rules too.
You won’t need fight milk before the weigh-in with our weight-loss tips
Let’s look at a video replay of the first tip from a different angle. Weight-loss prescription-only medicines cannot be advertised to the public. Food supplements riding on the coat-tails are likely run headlong into similar hurdles. Any claims about the effectiveness of a slimming method or product should be adequately substantiated to avoid running out of steam in extra time. Weight-loss ads targeting people who may be vulnerable are likely to shoot wide of the goal. Featuring, targeting or appealing to u18’s? That may leave marketers being shown the red card. There are special requirements for marketers looking to target obesity specifically too.
Power through one last sprint with our Copy Advice Team
Marketing is a team sport so bring our Copy Advice team into the squad. Our team of experts have the tactics and know-how to bring your sports supplement ads into the top division. Game on!
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