MedExpress's 'I wish I knew sooner' ad — the post-baby jab pitch that sold regret

On 21 June 2025 a paid-for Instagram ad for UK online pharmacy MedExpress showed a woman taking full-length mirror selfies with the overlay 'I wish I knew sooner that I could lose post-baby weight with a medicated weight loss treatment from MedExpress'. The video closed on two blue MedExpress boxes headed 'Your Weight Loss, Your Way', with small print noting treatments were subject to approval by a certified healthcare professional, and a 'Learn more' button led — through an over-18 pop-up — to a landing page naming the prescription-only weight-loss injections Mounjaro and Wegovy.

The ASA ruled on 17 December 2025 that the ad breached the CAP Code on both challenges. The 'I wish I knew sooner' framing implied the viewer had already missed an opportunity, encouraging new mothers to prioritise losing weight soon after birth with medication that carried safety warnings for people who were breast-feeding. The regulator found the ad exploited insecurities around body image and perpetuated pressure to conform to body image stereotypes, breaching rules 1.3 (social responsibility) and 4.9 (harm and offence).

The second breach was advertising prescription-only medicines (POMs) to the public: the ad referred to 'a medicated weight loss treatment' and its landing page named Mounjaro and Wegovy, both POMs, while the age gate only confirmed the visitor was over 18. The MHRA told the ASA it was concerned that a direct link to a page naming POMs 'could be analogous to a website homepage, which should not reference named POMs'. Breaching rule 12.12, the ad must not appear again in the form complained of.