An Instagram post from Gemma Collins promoting wearing a headset to combat depression instead of seeking professional medical advice and treatment has been banned by the UK’s advertising watchdog.
The TV personality posted a video of himself wearing a Flow Neuroscience AB device, a £400 headset that sends mild electrical impulses to the brain’s frontal cortex, which is responsible for regulating mood.
“Flow actually works faster and better than antidepressants,” Collins said in the video, which was posted in May 2023. “It’s like having your own therapist in the comfort of your own home. You have complete control over your own treatment.”
The UK Advertising Code states that marketing must not ‘discourage essential treatment requiring medical supervision’.
While Collins maintained that she had stopped taking antidepressants before using the device, the Advertising Standards Authority considered her statement to be a strong endorsement that it was a beneficial alternative to medication. The ASA said Collins encouraged circumvention of medical supervision, both in obtaining the device and in using it.
Collins told the regulator she believed the advert had sent a very clear message with a caption saying “always consult your GP without exception”. However, the ASA said telling people to “consult your GP” only encouraged a preliminary consultation. This did not meet the requirement that treatment for depression be carried out with “ongoing supervision”.
“The implication was that people who started using the device could stop taking their medication shortly afterwards and without medical supervision,” the ASA said. “We felt the advert trivialised the decision to stop taking antidepressants or not take them at all and encouraged people to take their treatment into their own hands.”
Collins is a former car salesman who rose to fame on the reality soap series The Only Way is Essex and is now a TV personality and podcaster.
Separately, the UK regulator banned an advert from Virgin Atlantic over its misleading claim about using “100% sustainable aviation fuel”. The airline aired the radio advert to promote the first transatlantic flight powered exclusively by jet fuels derived from sustainable sources.
The ASA, which has banned a series of airline adverts in a bid to tackle “greenwashing” claims, said the advert gave listeners a “misleading impression of the fuel’s impact on the environment”.
“It is important that sustainable aviation fuel claims reflect reality so that consumers are not misled into thinking the flight they take is greener than it actually is,” said Miles Lockwood, director of complaints and investigations at the ASA.
“If you claim that a product or service is sustainable, it gives the impression that it does not harm the environment. Therefore, we expect to see compelling evidence that this is the case.”
It is the first time the ASA has banned an advert over claims about sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), which airlines are relying on to be developed to enable the sector to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.