Background
This ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on prescription-only medicines (POMs) used for weight loss. See also related rulings published on 9 July 2025 and 17 December 2025.Ad description
a. A TikTok post on theskinnyjabofficial account featured the caption, “Introducing Caroline Balazs CEO of the original & official trademark brand SkinnyJab est 2017. Diabetes & obesity management specialist especially with GLP- medication #mounjarojourney #ozempic #skinnyjab”.
The post featured a video of Caroline Balazs. She said, “I have been doing weight loss for the last eight years and I was one of the first people to bring these GLP-1 medications into the public domain”.
b. A TikTok post on theskinnyjabofficial account featured the caption, “Mounjaro changed my life! Just putting it out there!! #carolinebalazs #mounjarotips #professionaladvice #obesityexperts #skinnyjab”.
The post featured a video of Caroline Balazs. She said, “Since doing Mounjaro for the last 13 months, and I’ve been doing this stuff for many years, because obviously that’s my job. But what I have discovered, certainly with Mounjaro, is that it has completely changed my life […] I talk to my patients every day, and it’s across the board. They are feeling happier, healthier, they’re living their best lives, this can’t be wrong.”
c. The website www.skinnyjab.co.uk, featured text which stated, “Welcome to Our Weight Loss Service. We provide a comprehensive face to face and online service for patients. Ongoing support and next day delivery service of repeat medication direct to your door”, “SkinnyJab was established in 2017 by founder Caroline Balazs – she was the first practitioner in the UK to launch licenced medication for weight-loss”.
d. The Instagram post on SkinnyJab’s account featured the caption, “Still hungry? Less appetite suppression? #carolinebalazs #skinnyjab #mounjaro”.
The post featured a video of Caroline Balazs. In the video, she said, “One of the things I get asked quite a bit when people are on this medication, is that they are still getting hungry, or they haven’t lost their appetite, or they haven’t lost weight, etc, etc. Now as I keep on saying, this medication is a tool. It helps you, but it is not the answer, and where we need to be more sort of aware, is that it’s about your diet, what you’re eating makes such a difference as to whether this medication works effectively or not.” The video ended with the SkinnyJab logo and the URL www.theskinnyjab.co.uk.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the social media posts and website, which featured the term ‘skinny jab’, breached the Code because it promoted prescription-only medicines (POMs) to the public.Response
WLO Ltd t/a SkinnyJab said that their social media content was intended to be an educational and informative resource regarding weight loss medication. They said that the content was not paid-for or sponsored advertising. They said the posts were directed towards their patients and individuals seeking awareness of safe protocols and guidelines regarding weight loss medication. They emphasised that their presenters were highly qualified clinical professionals, committed to providing accurate and safe information.
They said they aimed to differentiate their approach from that of unregulated traders who they believed promoted unsafe products.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that POMs or prescription-only medical treatments must not be advertised to the public.
SkinnyJab believed that ads (a) and (b), posts on their TikTok account, and ad (d), a post on their Instagram account, were not ads. The ASA therefore first assessed whether the posts were marketing communications that fell within the remit of the CAP Code.
Ad (a) featured the SkinnyJab CEO who discussed the services they provided. Ad (b) featured a personal endorsement of Mounjaro by a representative of SkinnyJab, including claims about its effects on patients. Ad (d) discussed the use of weight-loss medication, and described it as a “tool”. The video included a link to the SkinnyJab website. We considered that the ads all referred to the use of injectable weight-loss medication, a service which was supplied by SkinnyJab. Because the posts promoted services that could be obtained through SkinnyJab’s website, each post was directly connected to the supply of goods offered by the advertiser. In addition, the content of each post was directly controlled by the brand. We therefore considered that each post was a marketing communication that fell within the ASA’s remit.
The ads referred to “SkinnyJab”. We considered that consumers were likely to understand “skinny jab” to mean a weight-loss treatment that was administered by injection. We further considered that the term stylised as “SkinnyJab” would be understood in the same way. We understood that all injectable forms of weight-loss medication were POMs. We therefore considered that the claim “SkinnyJab” used in the ads promoted a POM to the public.
We sought advice from the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). They expressed concern that as weight-loss injections were legally classified as a POM, the use of the term “skinny jab” was likely to lead to a consumer requesting a POM. They also expressed concern that this likelihood could be reinforced by the use of the hashtags in ads (a), (b), and (d), which made references to Ozempic and Mounjaro.
For those reasons, we considered the ads promoted a POM to the public and concluded that they breached the Code.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 12.12 (Medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told WLO Ltd t/a SkinnyJab not to promote POMs to the public in future, by, for example, using the term “SkinnyJab” in marketing material.
