Aesthetics clinic advertising in the UK: what you can say about botox, fillers and offers

Botulinum toxin products are prescription only medicines. UK law and CAP rule 12.12 bar advertising prescription only medicines to the public, and that holds even when a registered medical professional administers the treatment. The ASA and the MHRA both enforce it.

The rule reaches further than most clinics expect. Every post on a clinic's own social channel counts as an ad. Naming the brand, naming the active substance, and indirect references such as "wrinkle relaxing injections" or a hinting hashtag are all treated as advertising the medicine.

CAP's guidance is clear on the alternative: a clinic can advertise consultations for lines and wrinkles. The consultation is the service the public may be invited to book, and the prescriber decides in that consultation whether a prescription only medicine is appropriate.

On the clinic's own website, CAP accepts a mention of botox in two circumstances: as a potential outcome following a consultation, and in a price list. In both the mention must be purely informational with no promotional content, and it stays off the homepage.

Dermal fillers and other treatments outside the prescription only category may be advertised, subject to the rest of the Code: evidence for claims, genuine and representative images, and responsible presentation. Testimonials are allowed where they stay clear of prescription only medicines and unsupported claims.

Since 25 May 2022 the CAP Code has required that ads for cosmetic interventions, surgical and non surgical alike, avoid targeting under 18s (rule 12.25). That means age targeting on paid social and care over where ads appear.

The ASA also treats pressure as a social responsibility problem. Its guidance warns against short response times and wording such as "hurry, offer must end Friday", against presenting procedures as safe, easy or free of risk, and against playing on body image insecurities.

Promotions that include a prescription only medicine, such as a discount, a giveaway or a bundled package, promote the medicine and breach rule 12.12 whatever the wording.

When every clinic is barred from shouting about the same product at the same price, the clinic itself becomes the thing people choose. Who prescribes and who injects, their registration and training, how the consultation runs, what aftercare looks like, and whose faces the clinic understands best.

Clinics that build their marketing on those answers have a brand that survives enforcement, a platform ban or a change in the rules. Clinics built on a price for a product name have an account waiting to be reported.