The Newshound

Weight-loss pill ads including Voy's 'The weight is over' London bus campaign are banned by the advertising watchdog

The Advertising Standards Authority banned four ads from weight-loss companies Voy, Juniper and MedExpress for illegally promoting prescription-only medicines directly to the public, the watchdog confirmed this morning. The rulings follow a separate wave of bans last month against Simple Online Pharmacy and Pharmacy Online for the same offence.

The ASA ruled small-print references to a glucomannan food supplement were not enough to disguise that Voy's bus and video-on-demand ads were promoting oral Wegovy tablets.

Juniper's YouTube ad declared 'The weight loss pill is here' and MedExpress's Instagram post pushed 'New weight loss tablets — No needles', neither naming the prescription drug directly.

'A medicine doesn't need to be named for an ad to be understood as promoting a prescription-only medicine,' the ASA's investigations manager warned.

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