Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on prescription-only medicines (POMs) used for weight loss. This ad was identified for investigation following a complaint received. See also related rulings published on 9 July 2025, 17 December 2025, 11 February 2026, 18 February 2026 and 8 April 2026.
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
Three emails from Voy, an online pharmacy, received in November 2025 featured Black Friday promotions.
a. The first ad featured a banner that stated “Our extended offer is coming to an end: Expired”. A headline below stated “Last day to save Up to £70 OFF all plans”.
Text below stated “Black Friday is almost over for good. Join Voy’s medication-based weight loss programme with coaching, tracking and support - for less. Discount applies automatically at checkout or use code VOYWLBF.” Below that, text in a green button stated “Get up to £70 OFF now”.
The ad featured an image of a Wegovy branded injection pen device with a detached cap and a roundel in the corner of the image with the text “£50 OFF voy OFFER ENDS SOON”.
Text underneath the image text stated “Start now, not on 1st January. Instead of waiting for resolutions that fade, you can start a clinically supported programme today. Voy combines medication with behaviour-change support so you’re not doing this alone.” “Medication prescribed by clinicians, tailored to your needs. Sustainable weight loss, with focus on habits and lifestyle too.”
b. The second ad featured a banner that stated “Up to £70 OFF” and “Black Friday ends tonight - time left: Expired”.
A headline below stated “Black Friday is live —Up to £70 OFF weight-loss plans”. Further text stated “One day only. The biggest weight-loss sale of the year is live […] Not just medication - injections, weight-loss boost programmes, side-effect guides, 24/7 coaching, progress tracking and long-term maintenance support, all included. Your discount applies automatically. Or use code VOYWLBF at checkout.” Below that, text in a green button stated “Claim up to £70 OFF”.
The ad featured an image showing an injection pen with the text “tirzepatide” on the label. A roundel next to the image featured text stating “£50 OFF” and the Voy logo.
c. The third ad featured text in a banner that stated “£50 OFF – CODE: VOYWLBF”. A headline below stated “£50 OFF all Weight loss plans”. Text below stated “[…] This Black Friday, get £50 OFF every VOY plan - monthly or long-term.” Text in a green button stated “Claim £50 OFF”. Further text below stated “Use code VOYWLBF at checkout to claim your dicount [sic] today.”
The ad also featured the same image as ad (b).
Issue
The ASA challenged whether:
1. the ads breached the Code because they advertised a prescription-only medicine to the public; and
2. by offering time-limited “Black Friday” discounts, the ads pressured consumers into purchasing a medicated weight-loss programme and were socially irresponsible.
Response
1. Menwell Ltd t/a Voy said the emails were Customer Relationship Management (CRM) communications sent to individuals in its systems and not accessible to the general public. They said there were two relevant recipient groups in their system: one group of current or former patients of Voy’s clinician-led weight-management service, who received essential service communications required for care and could not opt out of those messages, and a second group for individuals who had actively opted in to receive marketing communications, such as product updates and promotional offers, and who could opt out at any time.
Voy said ads (a)–(c) were sent to recipients in its opted-in marketing group and were not service-related emails. It said that, while it could be necessary to refer to prescription-only medicines (POMs) in essential service communications, it accepted that a promotional email should not have included a named POM. It said it had addressed the error internally and reinforced controls to prevent future marketing communications from referencing specific POMs.
2. Voy acknowledged the ASA’s concern that the use of time limited “Black Friday” pricing could be seen as pressuring consumers into purchasing a medicated weight-loss programme. They said the promotion related to the overall programme and did not change their clinical safeguards, including that no patient could access prescription treatment without a clinical assessment and clinicians could prescribe, delay, or decline medication regardless of any promotional pricing. They said they had reviewed their approach to urgency-based language in CRM messages to ensure future communications were balanced and did not encourage consumers to make rushed healthcare decisions.
Voy also confirmed their Black Friday communication ran from 17 November to 3 December 2025, and explained that recipients would have received their emails on different dates, depending on the phase of distribution they were in.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that POMs or prescription-only medical treatments must not be advertised to the public.
The ASA understood that Chapter 7 of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) The Blue Guide stated that companies responding to enquiries from the public about prescription only medicines should ensure that such responses are factual, non-promotional and limited to the subject matter of the enquiry. Companies may also provide the Summary of Product Characteristics SPCs, Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) and Public Assessment Reports (PARs) and direct responses to questions. Information provided must be appropriate to the enquiry, must be balanced and must not promote a prescription only medicine. The MHRA said that the law was clear that it was prohibited to publish an advertisement to the general public that was likely to lead to the use of a POM.
We understood that recipients of the ads had opted in to receive marketing updates and information about weight loss. However, we considered that prior engagement with the service and opting in to marketing updates did not mean recipients had made a specific enquiry about named POMs. We also understood that the emails were not service-related communications that were sent to existing customers who were users of weight-loss POMs.
Ad (a) featured an image of a Wegovy (semaglutide) branded injection pen. Ads (b) and (c) featured an image of an injection pen labelled “tirzepatide”. We understood that both Wegovy (semaglutide) and tirzepatide were POMs. We considered that by featuring named POMs, the ads promoted POMs to the public.
We welcomed Voy’s acknowledgement that featuring named POMs in the ads was an error, and that they had taken steps to avoid that happening again in future.
However, for the reasons stated above, we considered the ads promoted POMs to the public and concluded that they breached the Code.
On that point, the ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.12 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
2. Upheld
The CAP Code required that marketing communications were prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. Notwithstanding that the ads breached the Code by promoting POMs, we also considered whether by offering time-limited “Black Friday” discounts, the ads pressured consumers and were socially irresponsible.
We understood that, as well as the POM options referenced in Issue 1 above, Voy also offered Orlos (Orlistat) 60 mg Capsules, an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine used for weight loss. While POMs and POM treatments could not be advertised to the public, we considered that promotions for medicated weight-loss programmes were not necessarily irresponsible where they did not directly promote POMs. However, we considered marketers needed to take particular care when presenting and administering any time-limited offers for medicated weight-loss programmes, whether they involved OTC medication or access to POMs as part of the programme. We considered the decision to sign up to a medicated weight-loss programme should be presented as one that required time and thought from consumers.
We also considered guidance issued by the PAGB (Proprietary Association of Great Britain), the trade association representing the manufacturers of branded OTC medicines. Their guidance for consumer promotions for OTC medicines stated that offers needed to be of reasonable length, as short duration promotions may encourage consumers to make snap decisions that might result in the purchase of medicines that were surplus to their current or foreseeable requirements.
The ads all referenced “Black Friday” discounts on Voy’s medication-based weight-loss programme. Black Friday 2025 was on 28 November. We understood that the marketing campaign ran between 17 November to 3 December 2025 and that consumers would have received the emails on different dates, depending on their distribution. However, the end date of the promotion was not stated in the ads. We considered that consumers would have likely understood that the promotion was due to expire on 28 November, or, if they received the email after that date, that it was due to finish imminently. We therefore considered that consumers would have understood that they had 11 days or less, depending on when they received the email, to make the purchase at the promotional price and that there was a strict time-limited opportunity to take up the offer.
The ads included the claims “Last day to save Up to £70 OFF all plans” in ad (a) “Black Friday ends tonight” in ad (b), “offer ends soon”, “claim your dicount [sic] today” in ad (c) and countdown banners which displayed “Expired” in ads (a) and (b). We considered those claims included urgency messaging and therefore placed pressure on consumers.
We noted Voy’s comments that the promotion related to their overall weight-loss programme and did not change their clinical safeguards, including that no patient could access prescription treatment without a clinical assessment and clinicians could prescribe, delay, or decline medication regardless of promotional pricing. However, we did not consider that mitigated the effect of the ads’ presentation.
We considered that, by emphasising time-limited “Black Friday” discounts which were only available for a short period and using urgency-based language, the ads encouraged consumers to make a rushed transactional decision to purchase or sign up to a medicated weight-loss programme, for fear of missing out.
We sought advice from the MHRA, who expressed concern that the ads may not have supported rational use of a medicinal product.
Because the ads created a sense of undue urgency to respond quickly, we considered that they had not been prepared in a socially responsible manner and concluded that they breached the Code.
On that point, the ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.3 (Social responsibility).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Menwell Ltd t/a Voy not to promote POMs to the public in future and to ensure their future advertising did not create an undue sense of urgency for consumers considering medicated weight loss programmes.
