Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on prescription-only medicines (POMs) used for weight loss. The ads were identified for investigation following intelligence gathering by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules.
Ad description
A paid-for Google search ad for Phlo Clinic, seen on 30 August 2024, included text that stated, “Was £199.99, Now £129 Get 35% off Weight Loss Order Weight Loss Treatments Online […] from £129 Per Month. Lose up to 20% of Your Bodyweight With Phlo Clinic […]”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad breached the Code because it promoted POMs to the public.
Response
Phlo Technologies Ltd t/a Phlo Clinic said their telehealth service included a thorough assessment. This service provided where clinically appropriate, an online consultation, online check-ins, webinars, a healthcare hub, dieting nutrition guide, access to registered dieticians, a patient care call centre team and medication.
They believed the marketing of their service was compliant with the guidelines issued by GPhC (General Pharmaceutical Council) and MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency). They said the ad did not mention a POM.
They said the landing page of their website, which was linked to from the ad, promoted a free consultation for their service. That landing page had been archived and was no longer in use. They said their active landing pages linked to from ads had since been updated to remove images of any medication packaging.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that POMs or prescription-only medical treatments must not be advertised to the public.
The ad stated, “Weight Loss Treatments” and featured a discounted price, and the claim “35% off Weight Loss”, but did not mention specific products. The ad linked to a landing page on Phlo’s website that featured images of packaging for two weight-loss POMs – Wegovy (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) – and their corresponding injection pens which stated on them “Wegovy” and “Mounjaro”, and contained the same discounted price offer as displayed in the ad. Further down the landing page, there was a section titled “What can you expect?”, and included a graphic of a medical injection pen, and an FAQs section, which contained information on “What are injectable weight loss medications?”. We considered that consumers would have understood the section titled “What can you expect?” to provide details on the “Weight Loss Treatments”, as referenced in the ad. We also understood that all injectable forms of weight loss medication were POMs.
We acknowledged that Phlo Clinic explained that their telehealth service also included non-medical features such as online consultations, check-ins and a nutrition guide. However, we considered that the landing page did not refer to any other treatment options and considered that it therefore had a clear implication that weight-loss injectable POMs, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, would be the outcome of a consultation. We therefore considered that the reference to “Weight Loss Treatments” in the ad was a reference to POMs and the ad therefore promoted POMs to the public.
We sought advice from MHRA. They expressed concern that the proactive provision of a direct link to a webpage or landing page that did not require any searching from the consumer to access that information could be analogous to that of a website homepage. MHRA guidance for providers offering medicinal treatment services outlined that homepages should focus on medical conditions and the service provided and should not include any reference to named POMs.
We also considered Chapter seven of the MHRA’s Blue Guide, which stated that information provided about POMs had to be factual and non-promotional. The ad stated, “Was £199.99, Now £129 Get 35% off” and therefore included a discounted price for the weight-loss treatment being advertised. The website landing page to which the ad linked heavily featured Wegovy and Mounjaro and contained the same discounted price of £129. We acknowledged that Phlo said the medication was part of an overall programme, which included non-medical services. However, the only treatment referred to on the landing page was injectable weight-loss medication and we considered that consumers would understand the £129 price to be the discounted price for a POM. We therefore considered that due to the context of the landing page, consumers would have understood the “£129” price in the Google ad to be a promotional price for a POM and therefore also promoted POMs to the public.
For those reasons, we considered that the ad advertised POMs to the public and concluded that it breached the Code.The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.12 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Phlo Technologies Ltd t/a Phlo Clinic not to promote POMs to the public in future.
