The Complexities Of Health Influencer Marketing

Whilst the overall world of marketing has seen an increase in the use of influencers, the situation is more complex for life science marketing, particularly in the fields of health, beauty and fitness, where there is a wide range of influencers and businesses working with them.

However, whilst an influencer producing sponsored content for other fields such as technology, entertainment and other similar fields has its own issue, an influencer posting about healthcare can have potentially major ramifications for the health of their followers.

This can have legal implications as well, as a recent legal case against a social media influencer accused of misleading people with eating disorders with nutrition and fitness plans starkly shows.

The issue with influencer marketing is that because the concept is relatively new compared to other forms of advertising, which means that the focus of organisations such as the Advertising Standards Agency has been focused more on disclosure and labelling.

However, some precedents have already been set which track with the Blue Guide presented by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Specifically, rule 12.18 in the ASA code (or rule 5.7 in the MHRA Blue Guide) states that any advertising of a medicine to the general public should not contain recommendations by scientists, healthcare professionals or celebrities to avoid encouraging people to take products they do not need.

This became an important factor in the case against Sanofi UK and influencer This Mama Life in 2019 when the latter advertised a sleeping aid on her Instagram account and ruled that due to her following she was a celebrity for the purpose of the code.

Exactly where the line is drawn can be vague sometimes, especially when it comes to beauty and fitness supplements that in some cases count as either medicines or medical devices.

Ultimately, as with all other forms of marketing, the best way to market products is with evidence and data which supports the claims that have been made, ensuring that you can use influencers to endorse your product, and making sure they are aware of what they can and cannot say.