ASA launch crackdown on social media botox advertising
Clinics are banned from using phrases such as 'botox' and 'anti-ageing injections' online.
Last updated 3rd Feb 2020
A crackdown is being launched on clinics who advertise botox services on social media.
The Advertising Standards Authority will now regulate platforms like Facebook and Instagram - enforcing a ban on at least seven phrases.
The list includes '#botox', 'beautytox', 'beautox', 'anti-wrinkle injections', and 'anti-ageing injections'.
Practitioners found to be in breach can be forced to have the posts removed - and be referred to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency or their professional regulatory body who can impose further sanctions.
In an enforcement notice, the Committee of Advertising Practice, who write the rules to be enforced by the ASA, said: "Please take immediate action to review your social media ads and make changes as needed. After Friday 31st January, we will take targeted enforcement action using monitoring technology to automatically find problem posts for removal."
The changes are being welcomed by some in the industry - Laura McDonald, a cosmetic nurse specialist for La Belle Forme, said: "I think the new crackdown on the regulations is a welcome step.
"Anything we can do within the aesthetics industry to regulate and improve the reputation of the industry is a welcome change.
"Advertising on social media inappropriately can target vulnerable people and it is actually trivialising what is a medical procedure."
Dr Simon Ravichandran, who runs Glasgow-based clinic Clinetix and is a founder member of the Association of Scottish Aesthetic Practitioners, said: "If I was to say that we are promoting botox on social media or on our website I am selling a prescription drug directly to a consumer which is against the MHRA and the Advertising Standards Authority."
"This is ultimately going to be very good for consumers of healthcare, because they won't be so much swayed by what they see on social media and they won't be influenced by what pops up on Facebook."
Hear the latest news on Clyde 1 on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.