TWO-THIRDS OF websites investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) were found to have potential breaches of prescription-only medicine advertising rules.

The ASA, which promotes the highest standards of marketing communications, recently undertook a monitoring project to examine how online advertising for cosmetic treatments were promoted through the advertisers’ websites.

These websites were specifically reviewed to assess whether “botox”, or “botulinum toxin”, were referenced or promoted within their content.

Botox is a prescription only medicine which means it must be administered by a registered doctor, dentist or nurse with the necessary skills, knowledge and competence.

The Medical Council of Ireland states that prescribing botox for cosmetic or therapeutic purposes is a “clinical decision that must be made responsibly, in line with professional standards, national legislation and within the limits of the doctor’s competence”.

The ASA investigation focused on whether the advertisers’ websites complied with the Code of Standards which states that “prescription-only medicines may not be advertised to the public”.

Orla Twomey, Chief Executive of the ASA, told The Journal that the investigation was triggered by the information the ASA received via its complaint’s portal.

“We have a number of ways that people can bring concerns to our attention and we can then look for trend analysis and see whether there are particular issues we want to raise,” explained Twomey.

She said that while it was a small number, there was concern about clinics promoting botox.

Twomey said the ASA then decided to carry out a sweep using an internet search to “identify the scale of the issue”.

Investigation

A total of 123 advertiser websites were examined during the monitoring process, of which 44 did not promote prescription-only medicines.

But of the remaining 79 websites (64%), prescription only medicines were promoted, potentially in breach of the Code of Standards.

These advertisers were contacted directly by the ASA and informed of the relevant advertising rules and regulations.

Following engagement, some 66 of the advertisers contacted amended their website content to address the issues identified by the ASA.

However, 13 cases have been referred to the ASA’s Independent Complaints Council.

The Complaints Council is an independent arm of the ASA and is responsible for considering complaints.

All 13 were found to be in breach of the Code, but only eight of the advertisers undertook to change their website content.

Twomey said the ASA will engage with these clinics, which is part of the ASA compliance monitoring.

“We follow up and engage with them to encourage them to change the content,” said Twomey.

“We find consistently that once we have an adjudication, compliance follows.

“We’d be quite confident that we will resolve them all ultimately, it just takes some a little bit longer to come on board than others, but we will be following up with them now that we have the adjudications.”

Twomey noted that the rules in the Code are “extremely clear that prescription-only medicines must not be advertised to the public”.

However, she said it is “encouraging that the majority of advertisers contacted by the ASA engaged with us and amended their content once the issue was brought to their attention”.

Twomey added that it is important that “marketing communications are responsible and do not undermine important public health protections”.

She said the ASA will continue to engage with advertisers to ensure there is a clear understanding of the advertising rules in this area.

The ASA meanwhile issued a reminder that it has a free Copy Advice Service, which allows prospective ads to be checked against the advertising and marketing Code of Standards.

Adverts can be checked for free by emailing copyadvice@adstandards.ie

Meanwhile, Twomey said that while influencers weren’t looked at for this project, it is an area that is “under active consideration”.

“We will be introducing tools that will enable us to look at commercial content by influencers on this subject and other subjects at a bigger scale than we can do at the moment.”