New Guidelines 30 Days Away
Doctors have just 30 days to become compliant with the Medical Board’s new advertising guidelines from 1 July 2023.
Our Online Advertising Audit will help doctors and clinics to operate within the new guidelines. There will be significant changes coming to the way social media and all other advertising platforms can be used, with the regulator:
- Banning the use of language like ‘perfect’, ‘amazing’ and ‘body goals’ (and similar),
- Banning the use of sexualised language/poses/implication (and similar), and
- Banning the use of exploitive language ie. mummy makeover, hip dips, flabby, unsightly bulges (and similar).
Some Key Changes
Some important changes which will come into effect include:
- Images of people aged under 18 years of age must not be used in advertising of cosmetic surgery.
- Advertising must not trivialise cosmetic surgery. It must not minimise the invasiveness of cosmetic surgery (for example, the use of words such as, but not limited to, ‘artistry’, ‘silhouette’ and ‘sculpting’ are inappropriate in cosmetic surgery advertising) or idealise cosmetic surgery through the use of images, words or other marketing techniques. For example, advertising must not use terms such as ‘designer vagina’, ‘barbie’, non-clinical adjectives such as ‘transformation’, ‘amazing’, ‘perfect’ and similar.
- Cosmetic surgery advertising must not state or imply that it is normal to have cosmetic surgery to ‘fix’ natural variations and changes in body shapes and features.
Social Media and Website Advertising Audits
With the regulator turning to proactive compliance checks, it’s important doctors and clinics remain vigilant in their social media and online advertising presence. Providers who work in this space need to be aware of their social media and website presence, the optics of their advertising online, and the ethics around how they are marketing to Australian audiences.
It can be difficult and time-consuming for providers to understand what they need to change, or what they need to be aware of going forward. As we have been monitoring hundreds of social media accounts, we are best placed to provide an audit for professionals in this space to ascertain the red flags, optics of their content and possible breaches of advertising guidelines.
As the new advertising guidelines dropping on 1 July are from the Medical Board, we will be prioritising audit requests from medical providers or clinics who perform and advertise cosmetic surgery. However, if you would like our audit service to ensure compliance with Ahpra's Advertising Guidelines and you are any other healthcare professional, please contact us and we will see if we have availability.
Please note that our audits are intended for internal use only. These audits do not equal endorsement from our organisation of those being audited, do not provide or replace legal advice, and are not to be used as a 'tick of approval'. These audits are intended to identify red flags and optics concerns of content online.
To help ensure you comply with the new guidelines by the 1 July deadline, email us at office@opred.com.au or contact Maddison Johnstone (0434 003 822) or Michael Fraser (0458 369 975) to arrange an audit today.
Published: 1 June 2023