Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A paid-for Instagram ad for Kind Patches, a supplement company, seen on 29 April 2026, had a caption that stated, "Low energy, brain fog, and mood swings holding you back? The NEW Dopamine Patch is finally here - your daily boost for better mood, focus and motivation: Increase dopamine and serotonin levels Stay motivated and clear-headed Support emotional balance all day long Clinically-backed ingredients. Fast-acting. No more pills [...]".
The video in the ad showed a hand applying a supplement patch to a man's arm while he was distracted, leaning out of a car window to order at a drive-through restaurant. On-screen text throughout the video stated, "he wonders why the road trip is going so well but doesn't know I put a dopamine patch on him when he was getting our coffee [secret emoji]". The next scene showed a woman in the passenger seat looking at the camera with one hand over her open mouth and the man drove the car with the patch on his arm. The camera focused in on the patch on the man's arm and then showed the woman's hand holding a packet labelled "Dopamine Patches".
Issue
1. The ASA challenged whether the claimed health benefits of the patches including the implication that they contained dopamine were misleading and could be substantiated.
2. The complainant challenged whether the ad was harmful and irresponsible because it depicted someone applying a supplement patch to another person without their knowledge or consent.
Response
1. Kind Patches Ltd said that they had removed the ad in May 2026. They said that they did not hold evidence to substantiate the claims regarding mood, focus, motivation, emotional balance, dopamine- and serotonin-levels. The name “Dopamine Patches” was intended to refer to the ingredients’ proposed role in supporting the body’s own dopamine pathway, but they recognised that such a product name could be taken at face value and give consumers a misleading impression. Kind Patches said they had therefore renamed the product. They also said that they had taken steps to ensure similar issues would not arise in future.
2. Kind Patches accepted that the scenario of a person secretly applying a supplement patch to another person without their knowledge was a misjudgement. They said they had not intended to depict or encourage real deception, non-consensual application of any product or anti-social behaviour. Instead, they intended it to be a light-hearted, fictional surprise, with one partner secretly doing something thoughtful for the other, which Kind Patches described as common in social media content.
They accepted that they had not adequately considered how the scenario would be seen outside that genre of social-media content. They accepted that the scenario could be understood as condoning applying a product to another person without their consent, and fell short of the standard of responsibility to consumers and society required by the CAP Code. They also acknowledged that their creative approval process had not adequately tested the concept against that risk and said that they were changing their compliance processes to ensure the issue did not arise again in future.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ad’s caption stated, "Low energy, brain fog, and mood swings holding you back? The NEW Dopamine Patch is finally here - your daily boost for better mood, focus and motivation: Increase dopamine and serotonin levels Stay motivated and clear-headed Support emotional balance all day long Clinically-backed ingredients".
The ASA considered that consumers were likely to understand those claims to mean that the product could help with energy levels, mood, focus and motivation. In addition, because it was called “Dopamine Patch”, and the ad stated “Increase dopamine […] levels”, we considered consumers would understand that the product would contain dopamine and/or would achieve the product’s described benefits by increasing dopamine in the body. We also considered the claim “Increase […] serotonin levels” would be understood by consumers to mean the product would have the effect of increasing the levels of serotonin in the body.
In the absence of adequate evidence to substantiate the claimed health benefits of the patches, including the implication that they contained dopamine, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code required that marketing communications must contain nothing that was likely to condone or encourage anti-social behaviour, and to ensure advertising was prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
We acknowledged Kind Patches’ comments that the ad was intended to promote the patch in a humorous and fictional way, drawing on a common scenario in social media of someone doing something thoughtful for their partner, without the partner’s knowledge. However, we considered that the on-screen text "he […] doesn't know I put a dopamine patch on him”, and the scenario of a woman applying a supplement patch to a man's arm without his knowledge or consent would be interpreted by consumers as condoning such activity.
Notwithstanding that we had seen no evidence to substantiate the claimed health benefits of the product, we considered that the on-screen text, "he wonders why the road trip is going so well”, was intended to imply that the supplement patch’s ingredients were being absorbed by the man’s body and having an effect on him.
We considered that applying a supplement patch to someone without their knowledge in any circumstances was irresponsible and an act of anti-social behaviour because they had not consented to it. Furthermore, we considered the ingredients in the patch would be absorbed into the skin of the unknowing recipient and could cause negative consequences such as unpleasant or harmful reactions. We therefore concluded that the ad trivialised and condoned an act of anti-social behaviour, and was irresponsible.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility) and 4.4 (Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Kind Patches Ltd not to state or imply that their products had health benefits without holding adequate substantiation for such claims. We also told them to ensure their ads were prepared responsibly and did not condone anti-social behaviour.
