- Online pharmacy Juniper has had several advertisements banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for promoting prescription-only weight-loss medication directly to the public.
- The ASA ruled that one Facebook ad exploited the body image insecurities of new mothers, deeming it irresponsible and perpetuating harmful gender stereotypes.
- Other banned ads, including Black Friday promotions on Instagram, were found to create an undue sense of urgency for individuals considering medicated weight-loss programmes.
- Juniper was also found to have failed to clearly disclose the sponsored nature of posts within Facebook weight-loss support groups.
- The watchdog has instructed Juniper to cease promoting prescription-only medicines to the public and to ensure future advertising avoids creating undue urgency or lacking transparency.
IN FULL
Adverts accused of exploiting new mothers’ insecurities over body image banned