Five adverts for supplements claiming to treat symptoms of menopause and other women’s hormonal issues have been banned by the advertising watchdog.
Ads for the food supplement brands 222 Balance Me, Lunera, Minerva and Nova Menopause Vitality all claimed their products could prevent, treat or cure the symptoms of the menopause.
An ad and website for PolyBiotics implied their food supplements could prevent, cure or treat polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had taken a close look at ads which might prey on people’s health worries, emotional concerns, or financial pressures.
The ASA said it had used AI to analyse health claims in online ads, which revealed emerging and ongoing issues around misleading claims, driving its rulings on supplements.
The ASA said “many” of the claims in the ads were “unacceptable” and had not only broken a number of the authority’s rules but risked misleading vulnerable people, or steering those who needed it away from appropriate medical advice.
222 Collective accepted that wording in the ads 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.
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ASA investigations manager Catherine Drewett said when it comes to women’s health, “people deserve clear and accurate information”.
“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.”
