The Children’s Commissioner has called for an end to social media advertising for appearance-changing products targeting children.
Dame Rachel de Souza said children were routinely exposed online to products that claimed to change their bodies and appearance, including weight loss injections, skin lightening products and steroids.
Some 78% of children said the ads had a negative impact on their self-esteem, with 41% of 13- to 17-year-olds seeing promotions for prescription-only weight loss drugs, despite a ban on advertising, a new report has found.
Dame Rachel’s report, A healthy influence? Children’s exposure to appearance-changing products online, also found that 54% of children had seen exercise and diet plans and 52% had seen ads for food and drink products for weight loss.
Many children had also seen ads for skin lightening products online, including 46% of black children and 35% of Asian children, compared to 24% of white children. Many of these products are illegal in the UK because they contain toxic ingredients.
Dame Rachel is calling for an end to all advertising to children on social media by amending the Online Safety Act and changing Ofcom’s Children’s Code of Practice to explicitly protect children from body stigma content.
She has also proposed strengthening the regulation of online sales of age-restricted products.
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“Childhood is a short and precious time, but it is undeniable that children today are facing pressures like never before, with too many children growing up in an online world that takes advantage of their insecurities and tells them they are not good enough as they are,” she said.
“Extreme and potentially dangerous appearance-changing products are being normalised to children through advertising, influencer culture and online posts, despite many of these products being unsafe, illegal or strictly age-restricted.”
More than half of girls at 56% had seen ads for cosmetic procedures such as fillers and Botox despite the treatments being illegal for under-18s, and 66% of children had seen teeth whitening products.
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Some 8% of children had bought or tried non-prescription pills that claimed to aid weight loss, and 21% of children had bought or tried food or drink marketed for weight loss.
The study found black children were more likely to try these products, exercise and diet plans, than white children.
Some children reported harmful reactions after buying or trying appearance-changing products online, such as infections from eyelash products containing unknown chemicals.
Dame Rachel’s call comes as the government considers an Australia-style social media ban for teenagers.
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“The government should consider every mechanism available to protect children from harmful content and services, including restricting children’s access to some social media platforms, but a social media ban for under-16s can only be one part of the solution,” she said.
“It is not an immediate guarantee that children will be safer online.”
The report follows survey findings by the commissioner in 2024 that found just 40% of girls and 60% of boys were happy with how they look.
