An Instagram post in which Gemma Collins encouraged people to wear a headset to combat depression instead of seeking professional medical advice or treatment has been banned by the UK’s advertising watchdog.
The TV personality posted a video of herself wearing the Flow Neuroscience AB device, a £400 headset that sends weak electrical signals to the brain’s frontal lobe, which is responsible for regulating mood.
“Flow therapy actually works faster and better than antidepressants,” Collins said in a video posted in May 2023. “It’s like having your own personal therapist in the comfort of your own home. You have complete control over your treatment.”
UK advertising codes state that marketing “must not interfere with essential medical treatment requiring medical supervision.”
Although Collins claimed to have stopped taking antidepressants before using the device, the Advertising Standards Authority deemed her statements to be a strong endorsement of the device as a preferable alternative to medication. It said Collins was encouraging people to circumvent medical supervision in both obtaining and using the device.
Collins told the regulator she thought the ad sent a very clear message with the text caption “always consult your GP”. But the ASA said telling people to “consult your GP” only encouraged a preliminary consultation – which did not meet the requirement that treatment for depression must be under “ongoing supervision”.
“The advert suggested that people who started using the device could quickly stop taking their medication without medical supervision,” the ASA said. “We considered that the advert belittled the decision to stop taking antidepressants, or not take them at all, and encouraged people to self-medicate.”
Collins is a former car salesman who rose to fame in the reality show “The Only Way is Essex” and is now a TV personality and podcaster.
Separately, a British watchdog has banned Virgin Atlantic Airways for making misleading claims about using “100% sustainable aviation fuel.” The airline ran a radio advert promoting the first transatlantic flight powered entirely by aviation fuel made from sustainably sourced sources.
The ASA, which has banned a series of airline adverts in a bid to crack down on claims of “greenwashing”, said the advert gave audiences a “misleading impression about the environmental impact of fuel”.
“It is important that claims about sustainable aviation fuels are made clear in reality so that consumers are not misled into thinking their flying is greener than it actually is,” said Miles Lockwood, ASA’s director of complaints and investigations.
“Claim that a product or service is sustainable creates the impression that it is not harming the environment, so we want to see strong evidence that this is the case.”
It is the first time the ASA has banned an advertisement because of claims about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which airlines are relying on to be developed to help the industry reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
