Ad description
Two paid-for Facebook ads for OneCompress, a company selling bamboo garments, seen on 20 December 2023:
a. The first ad stated “*NEW Bamboo Arthritis Gloves that combat hand pains, arthritis, carpal tunnel, numbness and more while sleeping […]” and “WARNING: SLEEP WITH THESE AND FORGET ABOUT HAND PAIN […]”. The ad included a link to the advertiser’s website.
b. The second ad stated “Combat foot neuropath pain without medicine… Fast-acting NEW Bamboo Anti-Fatigue Socks that combat foot pains, neuropathy, swelling, diabetic foot and more while sleeping […]” The ad included a link to the advertiser’s website.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ads made medical claims for unlicensed products.
Response
OneCompress did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by OneCompress’ lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
Upheld
The Medical Devices Regulations 2002 required that a medical device should be registered with The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) before it was placed on the market in Great Britain. The ASA understood that the products in ads (a) and (b) were not registered with the MHRA as medical devices.
The CAP Code stated medicinal or medical claims and indications were made only for a medicinal product that was licensed by the 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.
The ASA considered consumers would interpret the claims in ad (a) “combat hand pains, arthritis, carpal tunnel, numbness” and “sleep with these and forget about hand pain” as medical claims that the gloves could treat the symptoms and conditions listed. We considered consumers would interpret the claims in ad (b) “Combat foot neuropath pain” and “combat foot pains, neuropathy, swelling, diabetic foot” as medical claims that the socks could treat the symptoms and conditions listed. We therefore considered those claims were medical claims which therefore required that the products met the requirements for medical devices.
However, as above, because we understood the products were not registered with the MHRA, nor had we seen any evidence that they had the applicable conformity marking, we therefore considered that no medical claims could be made for the products. Therefore, because the ads made medical claims, we concluded that they breached the Code.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.10 (Legality) and 12.1 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told OneCompress not to make medical claims for products that did not have the applicable conformity marking and were not registered with the MHRA. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.
