Are you advertising in the cosmetic surgery space? It's possible you're breaching advertising guidelines. We are offering Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Website audit services for providers advertising cosmetic surgery. Don't wait to be flagged by the regulator.
Online advertising has helped drive a boom in cosmetic procedures around Australia. The nature and optics of some social media and website marketing of cosmetic procedures could harm the public, and cause problems for doctors and clinics. In 2021, we appeared on the ABC's Four Corners program and have been quoted extensively in Nine Newspapers regarding our investigative research into the cosmetic surgery industry. We are experts advocating for change to be led by both industry and the authorities. Regulatory reform around social media, advertising, and cosmetic surgery is on the cards: providers will need to ensure their accounts are ethical in their engagement with the public online.
We have monitored hundreds of Instagram accounts of providers offering cosmetic procedures and have noted many practices. We have unique insights in the way social media is being used to market cosmetic surgery to all Australians including young people and children. If you'd like to read more about us (Michael Fraser and Maddison Johnstone) please visit our Media page or Team page.
We are currently offering a few services off the back of our investigative research.
Social Media Optics Audits
There is currently a national review underway into the cosmetic procedure industry. 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 monitored 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. Regulators are likely to ramp up their presence in monitoring social media of providers, so this is something that should be prioritised by providers going forward. We are offering a ‘health check’ 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).
If you’re not mentioned here, but would like our services, please contact us.
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.
Advertising Guidelines
Colleges and associations who are concerned about the social media advertising of their practitioners are welcome to contact us about developing a set of guidelines. These guidelines would be a comprehensive guide on the ethics and optics of advertising cosmetic surgery on social media. They can be created to suit the needs of this growing industry to ensure best practice and to help protect the public from misleading results.
Speaking
We also speak at conferences, seminars, and other events. Our research into the cosmetic surgery space and social media advertising gives us a unique perspective and we are able to provide interesting, insightful commentary at your event. Please call us (our numbers are on the Team page) or enquire here.
Want to get in touch as an analyst?
Please visit our research and software website: Diligence Research