Watchdog bans four ads, including Voy's 'The weight is over' bus campaign, for promoting prescription-only weight-loss pills to the public

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that ads from Voy, Juniper and MedExpress misled the public by implying they promoted oral Wegovy tablets rather than food supplements. Voy's bus ad showed a hand holding a white pill with the words "The weight is over" — small-print references to the glucomannan supplement were judged insufficient to change that impression.

ASA investigations manager Catherine Drewett warned: 'A medicine doesn't need to be named for an ad to be promoting a prescription-only medicine.'

Juniper's YouTube ad declared 'The weight loss pill is here'; MedExpress ran Instagram ads for 'New weight loss tablets' inviting users to 'Join the waitlist.'

Last month Simple Online Pharmacy and Pharmacy Online became the first firms banned for advertising unlicensed oral GLP-1 treatments to the public.