Advertising Compliance Audit
Our Online Health Check Audit is available for doctors who advertise cosmetic surgery services to ensure compliance with the Medical Board’s new guidelines. Ahpra has been proactively auditing cosmetic surgery advertising since September 2022 and found high rates of non-compliance.
We have been monitoring online advertising in the cosmetic surgery industry for years. We have adjusted our audit service to include the Medical Board's new advertising rules to help ensure compliance from 1 July 2023. It is more important than ever that cosmetic surgery doctors have their social media checked given Ahpra’s proactive stance.
Practitioners should use this time to review their advertising and address any issues.
New Rules
Some of the changes introduced will include banning the use of language like “perfect”, “amazing”, and “body goals”. The exact guidelines stipulate:
- Single images must not be used in cosmetic surgery advertising when the use of the image is likely to give the impression that it represents the outcome of a surgery as this can mislead the public, idealise cosmetic surgery and/or increase unreasonable expectations. Examples of inappropriate use of single images includes naked bodies or body parts or bodies in lingerie or swimwear, stylised single images, such as those with ‘mood’ lighting, soft filters or black and white images, and images of models or celebrities.
- Idealise or sexualise cosmetic surgery through the use of sexualised images, such as poses suggestive of sexual positions, parting of legs, hands placed near genitals or positions that imply sexual readiness. Other examples of inappropriately sexualised images include, but are not limited to, photographs, videos or images showing sexualised clothing, such as lingerie or sexual paraphernalia, simulated undressing, such as pulling down underpants or a bra strap, oiled bodies and similar.
- Use colloquial terms or non-clinical terms without also using the medical term for the surgery as this detracts from the seriousness of the surgery (including via a hashtag) for example, ‘boob job’, ‘tummy tuck’, ‘brazilian butt lift’.
- Use language or statements which are exploitive, disapproving or imply that a normal change (for example, post-pregnancy body), body shape or bodily feature is abnormal or undesirable or is not aesthetically pleasing and can be fixed or created by cosmetic surgery. This means, for example, phrases or terms such as ‘mummy makeover’, ‘unsightly bulges’, ‘lose the bingo wings’, ‘flabby’, ‘problem area’, ‘hip dips’, ‘thigh gaps’, ‘flat buttocks’ and similar must not be used in cosmetic surgery advertising.
Social Media and Website Advertising Audits
With the regulator releasing new advertising guidelines, it’s important doctors remain vigilant in their social media and online advertising presence. Ahpra are focusing on social media and website presence and content. 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, for a number of years, we are well 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.
We are offering an audit service to the following:
- Cosmetic surgery, medicine (injectables, etc), or dentistry clinics,
- Individual doctors who do cosmetic surgery including General Practitioners, Plastic Surgeons, other specialist doctors, and medical practitioners with no specialty,
- Dentists who do cosmetic dentistry,
- Cosmetic Nurses, and
- Colleges and associations that have fellows who work in the cosmetic space (we will provide a summarised, de-identified audit of themes found).
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.
Doctors who advertise cosmetic surgery have just over two months to ensure compliance of the new guidelines. Contact Maddison Johnstone (0434 003 822) or Michael Fraser (0458 369 975) to arrange an audit today.
Published: 20 April 2023