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Health conditions
Helpful information on the advertising rules for products used to treat health conditions, and examples of previous Advertising Standards Authority rulings in this area.
Many advertisers of health-related products or therapies are keen to list ailments that they believe their products or therapies can treat. However, the advertising rules restrict the types of claims anyone other than qualified health professionals can make.
The rules classify ailments in to two groups: those that can be acceptably referred to in ads targeted at the general public or those that can’t because they are considered too serious to be diagnosed or treated without relevant medical supervision. Any claims made must be backed up by robust evidence.
Examples of ailments that may be referred to in ads, providing the advertiser can prove the efficacy of the product or therapy, include: arthritic pain, trouble sleeping, smoking cessation and minor sports injuries. Examples of ailments that can’t usually be referred to in ads include: arthritis, depression, diabetes, infertility and impotence.
Claims that a product can “cure”, “restore”, “prevent”, “avoid”, “fight” or “heal” should be avoided as these are generally considered as medicinal claims and should only be made if the product has a MHRA licence.
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Latest rulings
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Actegy Ltd
- Upheld in part
- Television
- 06 August 2025
A TV ad for ‘Revitive Circulation Booster’, a Neuromuscular electrical stimulation device, claiming it could reduce swelling did not make clear this was only in relation to healthy people and was a temporary result. It also made misleading claims the device could improve walking distance and duration for th...
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INSTITUTO NATURVITA S.L. t/a Natur Vital
- Upheld
- Website (own site)
- 12 February 2025
A webpage misleadingly and irresponsibly implied that hair colourants were safe for people with an allergy to PPD.
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Visual Stress Consultancy Ltd
- Upheld
- Website (own site)
- 29 January 2025
A website made unsubstantiated claims that tinted glasses could be used for driving at night and condoned unsafe driving.
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Health Line
- Upheld
- Social media (paid ad)
- 22 January 2025
Two paid-for Facebook ads misleadingly exaggerated the capabilities of laser eye treatment, falsely implied that they directly provided laser eye treatment themselves and didn't make clear that they received a commission for their service.
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