Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on LED facemasks for skincare that make medicinal claims. The ad was identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules. See also related rulings published on 5 November 2025.
Ad description
A paid-for Meta ad for Luyors, a retailer of LED therapy tools, seen on 16 May 2025 featured an image of an LED mask. Text stated, "[…] With 6 specialized light settings, it helps tackle everything from acne […] with clinical precision […]”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ads made medicinal claims for an unauthorised product.
Response
Luyors Retail Inc said the ad was no longer appearing; they had ceased using it three months before the ASA had contacted them about it. Their intention had been to describe the cosmetic benefits of their product, rather than to make a medicinal claim. They said they would amend their approach and ensure future advertising did not refer to "acne" or other terms that could imply a medicinal claim.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that medicinal or medical claims and indications could only be made for a medicinal product that was licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) or under the auspices of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or for a medical device with the applicable conformity marking. In addition, the Medical Devices Regulations 2002 required that a medical device should be registered with the MHRA before it was placed on the market in Great Britain.
The ad included the claim "it helps tackle everything from acne […] with clinical precision”. The ASA considered that was a claim that the product could treat or prevent acne, a medical condition.
We considered that the ad made a medicinal claim and therefore required that the product met the requirements for medical devices. We had seen no evidence that the product was registered with the MHRA or had the appropriate conformity marking. Therefore, no medical claims could be made for the product.
We acknowledged that the ad was no longer appearing, however, because it made a medicinal claim at the time it appeared, we concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.1 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form investigated. We told Luyors Retail Inc not to make medicinal claims for products that did not have the applicable conformity marking and were not registered with the MHRA.
