Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on prescription-only medicines (POMs) used for weight loss , identified for investigation following complaints and intelligence gathered by the ASA. See also related rulings published between 9 July 2025 and 2 September 2026.
Ad description
A paid-for Google search ad for Juniper, an online pharmacy, seen on 23 April 2026 featured a headline which stated “50% Off: Limited Time Offer 6 Month Price Lock All Doses In Stock”. Text below stated “Weight loss medication just £65 and various discounts over 6 months. Limited time only. No GP or pharmacy visits, just a quick online consultation…”.
Underneath, the ad included links titled “Weight Loss Medication”, “Now Just £21.25 Per Week”, “View Reviews” and “Medical Weight Loss UK”.
Text below the “Weight Loss Medication” link stated “Lose Up To 23% Of Your Body Weight. Reduce Cravings & Regulate Appetite”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad breached the Code because it advertised a prescription-only medicine (POM) to the public.
Response
Juniper Technologies UK Ltd t/a Juniper stated that they considered the ad used generic terms regarding dosage, medication, weight loss and no GP visits, which they believed could apply to weight-loss medicines generally, including over-the-counter options.
However, they accepted that wording about cravings and appetite could have created an unintended impression and said that they had since amended it.
Juniper also said that the ad linked to several web pages before consumers saw any POM branding. They said they had adopted that structure in light of previous ASA findings that a landing page linked directly from an ad was similar to a home page for the purposes of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) Blue Guide. They said the inclusion of several information-gathering pages linked from the ad was intended to act as a buffer between the ad and any POM content, so that only consumers actively looking for more information would reach the more detailed material deeper within the website. On that basis, they believed the consumer journey to the website was compliant.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that POMs or prescription-only medical treatments must not be advertised to the public.
In assessing the likely consumer understanding of the ad, the ASA had regard to its consumer research “How people interpret ads relating to prescription-only weight-loss medicines” published in April 2026. The research provided useful evidence of how consumers interpreted references, imagery and other features in advertising for weight-loss medicines, while recognising that each ad must be assessed on its own overall presentation. The research found that some features, such as images of weight-loss injection pens and efficacy claims relating to significant/rapid weight loss, reducing cravings or regulating appetite, were particularly strong indicators that a prescription-only weight-loss medicine was being advertised. It also found that references to eligibility criteria, could contribute to that impression when viewed in combination with additional claims, imagery or contextual cues. Overall, the research demonstrated that consumers often inferred meaning from the combination of an ad's imagery, language, claims and overall presentation, and that, even where a medicine was not explicitly named, those combined signals could lead consumers to understand that a prescription-only weight-loss medicine was being promoted.
In light of that research, we considered that many consumers would have been familiar with the price points of GLP-1 medications, and would have understood that those medicines were POMs, which often required a prescription through a GP or pharmacy visit. We also considered that many consumers would understand that GLP-1 medications reduced cravings and appetite, in contrast to non-POM medications, and could lead to significant amounts of weight loss.
We considered that at least a significant minority of consumers would have interpreted the references in the ad to "All Doses In Stock", "Weight Loss Medication", "No GP or pharmacy visits, just a quick online consultation", "Lose Up To 23% Of Your Body Weight. Reduce Cravings & Regulate Appetite", and the price claims "50% Off", "£65" and "Now Just £21.25 Per Week", taken together, as meaning that a prescription-only weight-loss medicine was available.
We sought advice from the MHRA, who noted that an objective assessment of an ad is required to determine whether it can be regarded as designed to promote a medicinal product or medicinal products. Such an assessment requires consideration of a number of factors which may include the wording used in the ad and whether the material is designed to persuade, the likely effect on an average well-informed consumer, and the method by which it is distributed.
Taking the above factors into account, we considered the wording used in the ad promoted POMs to the public and breached the Code.
We also considered the consumer journey after clicking the link in the ad. We understood that consumers were directed first to a filtering page asking whether they had previously used weight-loss medication, then to a page inviting them to claim a discount, and then to a further page featuring references to “injections” and images of injection pens, including one bearing the branding of Wegovy (semaglutide), which we understood was classed as a POM.
We sought advice from the MHRA, who expressed concern that the advertisement was likely to lead to the use of a POM in circumstances where the consumer had been invited to follow a discrete path which guided them, even if the promotional message was spread across a number of pages, to those weight-loss medicines.
Because the ad directed consumers along a website journey that led to a page featuring a named POM, we further concluded that the ad advertised a POM to the public, and breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.12 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form investigated. We told Juniper Technologies UK Ltd t/a Juniper not to promote POMs to the public in future.
