Aesthetics reflects on the ASA’s latest report on online health claims and what practitioners need to consider when marketing treatments
Advertising statements for research peptides, hair-regrowth treatments and hormone-balancing products are among the health claims facing scrutiny in a new report from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).¹
The Pulse Report: Understanding Health Claims in Online Ads examined online advertising across seven priority areas, including research peptides, women’s hormonal health, menopause, men’s sexual performance and hormonal health, as well as hair loss.¹
The report uncovered that 43% of research-peptide adverts assessed were rated high risk, which are considered more likely to breach UK advertising rules.¹ Many adverts also implied the products were for consumer use, by offering small order quantities, direct WhatsApp ordering, discounts, fast home delivery, discreet shipping and linking product benefits to specific health, body goals or symptoms.¹ Elsewhere, 15% of hair-loss adverts were rated high risk, while 10% of adverts relating to men’s hormonal health and sexual performance received the same rating.¹
To understand this topic in more detail and where practitioners may be unknowingly at risk of a breach, Aesthetics spoke with communications consultant and founder of Kenrick PR Julia Kendrick, and Isabel Dharmasiri, media relations officer at the ASA.
Where the ASA identified the greatest risk
The ASA identified risk across several online health-advertising categories. The ASA found that “research use only” and “not for human consumption” disclaimers did not always align with the adverts’ imagery, messaging or route to purchase on research peptide products.¹ Some used coded language alongside images of vials, syringes and refrigerators, an approach the ASA says can make the products harder for platforms to identify, while remaining recognisable to interested consumers.¹
Peptide adverts were also linked to weight loss, menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome, diabetes, pain, hair loss, anxiety and recovery, at times positioning products as alternatives to established care.¹
Women’s hormonal health, fertility and menopause was the report’s largest category, encompassing 16,530 adverts; 83% were rated medium risk and a further 4% were rated high risk.¹ The report also identified adverts aimed at people using glucagon-like peptide-1 medications, including claims relating to side effects such as nausea, bloating, fatigue and hair loss.¹
Understanding ASA positioning
Dharmasiri explains that claims must be evidence-based. “Claims about balancing hormones, reversing ageing, restoring hair growth or alleviating symptoms must be properly substantiated and must not mislead consumers about what a treatment can realistically achieve,” she says. In addition, Dharmasiri warns that adverts mustn’t make medicinal claims for unlicensed products and prescription-only medicines (POMs) cannot be advertised to the public.²˒³
For practitioners, Kendrick believes that aesthetics can be especially exposed, given the wide range of devices, treatments and services marketed online. She adds that reassurance-based language can often create a further compliance risk, referring to wording such as “No downtime”, “no side-effects”, “natural” and “suitable for everyone” as potentially reducing a patient’s perception of risk. Kendrick adds, “This is precisely why regulators scrutinise them,” she notes.
Kendrick adds that terms like ‘Botox’ are effectively a household name with high consumer awareness and recognition, adding, “Practitioners can sometimes forget they still must abide by the stricter POM regulations when it comes to discussing these treatments.”
Competitive pressure and compliance risk
From Kendrick’s experience, some practitioners feel pressure to differentiate their services as the market is extremely competitive, which therefore makes them more vulnerable to overstating what treatments can deliver. “With so many clinics now competing for consumer attention and consideration, many of whom are using the same (or interchangeable) categories of treatments, the temptation is to compete on outcomes, and this is exactly where claims can get stretched,” she notes.
She continues by saying that competitive pressure may also make some clinics feel the need to rush their communications and marketing, potentially cutting corners or not checking as thoroughly in the rush to ‘get out there’ and be ‘the first’ with a new treatment.
Dharmasiri is clear that from an ASA standpoint, if the regulator discovers an advert breaks the rules, they generally require the advertiser to amend or withdraw it. This may be in the form of a formal ruling, which is published on the ASA website.⁴
She adds, “If an advertiser continues to break the rules, we have a number of further sanctions available to us, including working with online platforms to have non-compliant adverts removed. In some instances, we may also refer cases to other relevant regulators, such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency where there are concerns about potentially medicinal products or claims that fall within its remit.”⁵
Staying compliant with the ASA
For practitioners looking to avoid any potential breaches of ASA guidelines, Dharmasiri explains that they should make sure that any claims they make about a treatment are accurate, backed up by evidence and give people a realistic idea of what they can expect.⁶
They should avoid exaggerating the benefits or promising results they can’t guarantee. Dharmasiri continues, “Ultimately, adverts should give people clear, truthful information to help them make informed decisions about whether to go forward with a treatment.”
To help practitioners distinguish between providing useful, educational information about a treatment and making claims that could mislead patients, Kendrick advises that a simple way to judge content is to ask whether it helps someone make an informed decision, or whether it is simply designed to make them feel they need treatment. “Practitioners carry real authority, so they need to use it carefully. It helps to be clear about the difference between fact and professional opinion,” she concludes.
References
- Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) (2026) Pulse Report: Understanding health claims in online ads. 1 October. Available at: https://www.asa.org.uk/resource/pulse-report-health-claims-in-online-ads.html
- Advertising Standards Authority, ‘Rulings’, ASA, https://www.asa.org.uk/codes-and-rulings/rulings.html (accessed 16 October 2026).
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, The Blue Guide: Advertising and Promotion of Medicines in the UK, Appendix 6, ‘Advertising of medicines: Guidance for providers offering medicinal treatment services’ (2020), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/956846/BG_2020_Brexit_Final_version.pdf