Ad description
A website for Sweet Bee Organics, www.sweetbeeorganics.co.uk, a retailer of beauty products, seen on 22 May 2025, advertised the product Sweet Sleep Magnesium Butter. The ad included various product images, one of which showed a close-up of the label that said “Lovingly formulated to soothe body and mind, promoting restful sleep”. To the right of the product, accompanying text listed several benefits, including “Promotes restful sleep”, “Calms restless legs”, “Soothes a migraine”, “Reduces anxiety”, “Non-hormonal menopause solution” and “Alleviates hangovers.”
In the Description section of the webpage, text described the product as “beautifully soft body butter [that] has been gently formulated to promote better sleep and soothe other common ailments” and that it could “soothe sleep issues for everyone and alleviate menopausal symptoms in women”.
Towards the bottom of this section, further text stated that “the calming effects of magnesium and herbal extracts promote better sleep quality, tackling insomnia and encouraging more restful nights”. Text further stated that “the calming effects of magnesium pacify the nervous system” in relation to restless leg syndrome, and that magnesium helps “manage and reduce hot flushes”. Additional text included “helps balance hormones” and “offer a non-hormonal menopause solution”.
In the FAQ section about the product, text listed the key benefits: “improved sleep quality, calming restless legs and muscle cramps, soothing migraines, reducing anxiety, alleviating menopausal symptoms, and providing natural, hormone-free relief”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad made medicinal claims for an unlicensed product.
Response
Sweet Bee Organics Ltd said that they took compliance very seriously. They said that some of the claims referenced in the ad were comparable to permitted claims for food supplements containing magnesium. They believed that the claims applicable to magnesium in oral supplements should logically have extended to topical creams containing the same ingredient. They noted that magnesium was widely recognised as a natural relaxant and highlighted its role in regulating energy balance, both factors contributing significantly to sleep regulation.
They provided supporting scientific evidence to substantiate these claims. However, they acknowledged that many of the claims made could have been interpreted as medicinal in nature and clarified that their product was not a licensed medicinal product but a topical moisturiser containing magnesium. Therefore, they agreed to remove the claims from their advertising.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers were likely to interpret the claims “non-hormonal menopause solution”, “alleviate hot flushes – magnesium helps manage and reduce hot flushes,” and “helps balance hormones” as implying that the product could treat symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause.
The ad also included the claims “calms restless legs”, “soothes a migraine” and “reduces anxiety” which were presented alongside supporting statements such as “the calming effects of magnesium pacify the nervous system” and “the calming effects of magnesium and herbal extracts promote better sleep quality, tackling insomnia and encouraging more restful nights”. We considered that consumers would understand these claims to suggest that Sweet Sleep Magnesium Butter could relieve symptoms of those conditions; namely, restless leg syndrome, migraines, anxiety, and insomnia.
We therefore concluded that these constituted medicinal claims, which required the product to be authorised as a medicine. However, we understood that the cream did not have the relevant marketing authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Agency (MHRA) and because of that no medicinal claims could be made for the product.
Because the ad made medicinal claims for a product which was not authorised, we concluded that it breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.1 and 12.11 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
