Rules and redress

The CAP Code and what a body treatment advert may not say

How the CAP Code applies to body treatment advertising in the UK, what a marketing communication may not say, and how to complain to the ASA.

Rules and redress· Reviewed 2026-08-01·Published by Northbank Media
Two fine meshes overlaid at a slight angle, producing an interference pattern.
Two fine meshes overlaid at a slight angle, producing an interference pattern.
The short answer

Marketing communications in the United Kingdom are subject to the CAP Code, administered by the Advertising Standards Authority. The core requirements relevant here are that marketing must not mislead, assessed on the overall impression created including what is implied and omitted; that claims capable of objective substantiation must be supported by evidence held before the claim is made; that marketing must be socially responsible and must not exploit insecurity about appearance; and that prescription only medicines may not be advertised to the public. Complaints are free, take a few minutes, and every ruling is published.

Of everything described on this site, the advertising rules are the part where an ordinary reader has the most power and uses it the least. Complaining is free, takes a few minutes, requires no legal knowledge, and produces published outcomes that constrain everybody else in the sector.

What applies

Marketing communications in the United Kingdom are subject to the advertising codes written by the Committee of Advertising Practice and administered by the Advertising Standards Authority. For a clinic's website, social media, leaflets, emails and paid advertising, the relevant one is the CAP Code.

Note the scope: a clinic's own website and its social media posts are marketing communications. This surprises people who assume the rules cover paid advertising only.

The misleading standard, which is the important one

Marketing must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. The assessment is of the overall impression created by the communication, taking account of what is implied as well as what is stated, and of material information that is omitted.

This is the point that changes how you read everything. An advertisement can consist entirely of true sentences and still be misleading, if the impression it leaves is not accurate. A selected before and after pair, a percentage without its qualifications, a from price for one session of a course, and a regulatory-sounding phrase with no regulator behind it are each capable of creating a misleading impression without any individual falsehood.

We take those apart in reading a before and after, where the percentages come from and the regulatory sounding phrases.

Claim adjudicationNot established
The claim, as this sector makes it
“Every claim in our advertising is technically accurate, so it complies.”

What would have to be true

  • That compliance is assessed sentence by sentence rather than by the impression a marketing communication creates as a whole.
  • That omissions and implications are outside the scope of the assessment.

What is actually established

  • The Code assesses the overall impression created by a marketing communication, including what is implied and what is left out.
  • An advertisement composed entirely of literally true statements can still be found misleading.
  • Substantiation must be held before a claim is made, not assembled after a complaint.
Verdict: Not established

Technical accuracy is not the test. This is the single most useful thing for a reader to know, because it explains why an advertisement that contains no false sentence can still be a problem, and it is the basis on which most complaints in this sector succeed or fail.

About the verdict on this pageEvery claim panel on this site ends with one of five published verdicts, and every verdict tag is set in the same colour so that the colour can never read as a score. The full vocabulary is published in our editorial standards. No payment of any kind can influence a verdict.

Substantiation

Claims capable of objective substantiation must be supported by adequate evidence, and the advertiser must hold that evidence before making the claim. Assembling a justification after a complaint is not compliance.

Two practical consequences. First, asking a clinic what evidence they hold for a specific claim is a reasonable question, and their ability to answer tells you something. Second, the level of evidence required relates to the claim being made: a modest claim needs less than a strong one, and a claim about a health outcome is held to a higher standard than a claim about appearance.

Social responsibility and appearance

Marketing must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. In this sector, that engages several things: the exploitation of insecurity about appearance, the presentation of normal bodily features as defects requiring correction, the targeting of people at moments of low resilience, and the trivialisation of procedures that carry clinical risk.

These are areas where the ASA has taken an interest in the cosmetic sector, and the published rulings are the place to see how the standard is applied rather than described. We would encourage anybody considering a treatment to read half a dozen rulings in this sector first. It takes twenty minutes and it changes how the marketing reads.

Prescription only medicines

Advertising a prescription only medicine to the public is restricted in the United Kingdom under the medicines framework, separately from the advertising code. This is why marketing for injectable treatments tends to describe effects rather than name substances.

Where you see a prescription only medicine named in material aimed at the public, that is a matter for the MHRA as well as potentially for the ASA.

Candidacy

What a body treatment advertisement should not be doing

  • Creating an impression of typical results that is not typical, including through selected before and after images.
  • Making a claim capable of substantiation without holding the evidence for it in advance.
  • Naming a prescription only medicine in material directed at the public.
  • Exploiting insecurity about appearance, or suggesting that a normal feature of a body is a defect.
  • Trivialising a procedure that carries clinical risk, including through same-day offers and pressure to book.
  • Presenting a price in a way that conceals what is necessarily required in addition.

You do not need to establish which rule applies in order to complain. Describe what you saw and why it gave you a misleading impression. The ASA works out the rest.

How to complain, in practice

Save the evidence first. Screenshot the advertisement, including the date and where you saw it. Claims are frequently removed once questioned, and an undated recollection is much harder to assess than a saved image.

Describe the impression. You do not need to identify which rule applies. Write two or three sentences saying what the advertisement led you to believe and why you think that impression is not accurate. That is the complaint.

Submit it. The ASA takes complaints free through its website. One complaint is enough to trigger consideration; a case does not require a campaign.

What happens next. Most matters are resolved informally, with the advertiser amending or removing the claim. Where the ASA investigates formally, it publishes a ruling naming the advertiser and setting out the finding. Those rulings are what everybody else in the sector reads.

The other routes, briefly

Misleading pricing, pressure selling and unfair commercial practices are matters for Trading Standards, reached through Citizens Advice. Problems with a device or a medicine go to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. Conduct by a registered healthcare professional is a matter for their regulator. Poor service is a Consumer Rights Act 2015 question.

We set all of these out in order in what to do if a treatment goes wrong.

Why it is worth doing

Because it works, and because nobody else is doing it. Every published ruling in this sector exists because one person filled in a form. In an area with no licensing scheme in force, the advertising rules are the most active constraint on how these treatments are sold, and they are enforced almost entirely on the initiative of the public.

No commercial links on this page

This article contains no commercial links of any kind. No affiliate links, no sponsored placements, and no links to any clinic, practitioner, device manufacturer, brand or retailer. Nobody paid for it, nobody previewed it and nobody outside the editorial team saw it before publication.

This publication does not name, rank, rate or review any clinic or practitioner, because it has assessed none of them. Our funding is set out in full on the about page and on the provider listings page, including what we refuse to sell at any price.

Nothing here is medical advice. Speak to a qualified clinician about your own circumstances.

Sources

We cite regulators, legislation and clinical institutions, and we link them so that you can check the current position yourself. We do not link to clinics or to device manufacturers. Regulation in this field changes, so the primary source is always better than our summary of it.

Frequently asked questions

Does the CAP Code cover a clinic's own website?

Yes. A clinic's website, social media posts, leaflets and emails are marketing communications and fall within the Code. People often assume the rules cover paid advertising only, which is not the case, and it substantially widens what can be complained about.

What is the misleading standard?

Marketing must not materially mislead, assessed on the overall impression created including what is implied and what material information is omitted. An advertisement composed entirely of literally true sentences can still be found misleading, which is the single most useful thing for a reader to understand.

What is substantiation?

Claims capable of objective substantiation must be supported by adequate evidence held before the claim is made. Assembling a justification after a complaint is not compliance. The level of evidence required relates to the strength of the claim, and health related claims are held to a higher standard.

How do I complain to the ASA?

Save a dated screenshot of the advertisement and where you saw it, write two or three sentences describing the impression it gave you and why you think it is not accurate, and submit it free on the ASA website. You do not need to identify which rule applies or to have any legal knowledge.

Will one complaint achieve anything?

One complaint is enough to trigger consideration. Most matters are resolved informally with the advertiser amending or removing the claim; where the ASA investigates formally it publishes a ruling naming the advertiser. Every published ruling in this sector exists because somebody filled in a form.

What if the issue is pricing or pressure selling?

That is a Trading Standards matter, reached through Citizens Advice. Problems with a device or a medicine go to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, conduct by a registered professional goes to their regulator, and poor service is a Consumer Rights Act question. The routes are separate and you can use more than one.

When the rules change, we will tell you

One email when a regulatory position shifts in a way that alters what you should check, when a published advertising ruling changes what this sector may claim, and when a new article goes up. No treatment offers, no discounts and no clinic suggestions, because we do not make any.

Sponsor lineThe newsletter may carry one clearly labelled sponsor line, placed after the editorial content. Sponsors see it when you do, and no payment of any kind can influence a claim verdict on this site. The rate is published on the provider listings page.