Watchdog bans five ads for women’s heath claims

Five adverts for supplements claiming to treat menopause and other women’s health issues have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Ads for 222 Balance Me, Lunera, Minerva and Nova Menopause Vitality all claimed their products could prevent, treat or cure the symptoms of the menopause.

An advert and website for PolyBiotics implied its food supplements could prevent, cure or treat polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS.

ASA investigations manager Catherine Drewett said when it comes to women’s health, ‘people deserve clear and accurate information’.

She added: “Ads making misleading claims about treating symptoms of the menopause, PCOS and other hormonal conditions can cause real harm and today’s rulings hold advertisers to account.’

“We’ll continue to monitor this sector closely and we encourage anyone with concerns about an ad they’ve seen to get in touch.”

The ASA said it had taken a close look at adverts that might prey on people’s health worries, emotional concerns or financial pressures.

The regulator said it had used AI to analyse health claims in online adverts, which revealed emerging and ongoing issues around misleading claims and informed its rulings on the supplements.

The ASA said many of the claims in the adverts were ‘unacceptable’ and had not only broken a number of its rules but risked misleading vulnerable people, or steering those who needed it away from appropriate medical advice.

222 Collective accepted that wording in its adverts may have ‘inadvertently implied’ its product could ‘treat or relieve symptoms such as PMS, menopause-related symptoms, anxiety, bloating, heavy bleeding, or mood disorders’.

The company said it was a new, founder-run small business and still learning about the requirements of advertising regulations and was working with Trading Standards to ensure it did not make explicit or implied disease or symptom treatment claims.

Lunera said it accepted its claims would be understood by consumers to attribute a medicinal property to a food supplement and should not have appeared.

PolyBiotics told the ASA it accepted references to PCOS, ovulation, fertility, cycle regulation, insulin resistance and related symptoms constituted disease treatment or symptom-management claims, which were not permitted for food supplements.

Minerva and Nova did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.