26 Thursday November 25 2021 | the times
News
Targeting teenagers with adverts for
cosmetic procedures such as breast
enhancements and nose jobs will be
banned from next May, the regulator
has announced.
Under the rules, companies will no
longer be able to advertise products and
procedures designed to change physi-
cal appearance around television
shows with a large audience of teen-
agers under 18. The adverts will be
banned in online, print and audio me-
dia that are aimed directly at under-18s
or with a large proportion of the age
group among the audience.
The changes follow a public consul-
tation after concerns over the potential
impact of advertising cosmetic inter-
ventions to the mental health and phys-
ical safety of young people.
The ban covers procedures such as
breast enlargement or reduction,
abdominoplasty or “tummy tucks”, eye-
lid surgery, nose reshaping, facelifts
and hair restoration surgery.
Adverts for non-surgical interven-
tions such as dermal fillers and skin re-
juvenation treatments, including in-
jectable treatments, chemical peels and
laser or light treatments as well as teeth
whitening products will also be banned.
A consultation by the Committee of
Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Ad-
vertising Standards Authority exam-
ined whether the present rules on pro-
moting cosmetic procedures had a nega-
S
ettling down in front of the
television is not an enjoyable
pastime for the Archbishop
of Canterbury if a
programme appears
featuring a vicar, he has said (Jack
Malvern writes).
The Most Rev Justin Welby is
irritated that programme makers
seem to have only two tropes for his
profession: the rogue and the idiot.
He did not specify but among the
most prominent TV portrayals of
vicars are Dawn French’s comedy
The Vicar of Dibley, Father Ted and
Tom Hollander’s put-upon
character in the BBC show Rev.
The archbishop was speaking to
an audience of farmers at the
National Farmers’ Union’s annual
Henry Plumb lecture at the Royal
Society. He told them that he had
enjoyed watching Clarkson’s Farm,
a series about the former Top Gear
presenter trying his hand at
agriculture, but noted that farmers
may have found the portrayal
unrepresentative.
“Maybe for you watching Jeremy
Clarkson feels a bit like for me
watching anything with a vicar in it.
Either you can’t stand it or you get
completely addicted.
“I generally find depictions of
vicars on TV to be depressing. TheyWelby damns
TV vicars as
fools or bad
New curbs on ads
for cosmetic surgery
Katie Gibbons tive impact on the wellbeing of children
and young people. It found an “ever
clearer picture” that young people were
vulnerable to body image pressures.
Negative body image perceptions
were prevalent among those groups,
which could have an impact on their
self-esteem, wellbeing and mental
health, it concluded. Concerns were
raised about the risks and potential
complications of the procedures.
The watchdog ruled that from
May 25 next year ads for cosmetic in-
terventions would be banned from tar-
geting people under the age of 18. The
ban will not affect advertisements for
cosmetics such as creams, make-up and
hair products.
Shahriar Coupal, the CAP director,
said: “Because of the inherent risks of
cosmetic intervention procedures and
the potential appeal of these services to
young people struggling with body con-
fidence issues, it’s important we set the
bar necessarily high in terms of market-
ing. The new rules will ensure ads can’t
be targeted at under-18s and, where
children and young people do see them,
our strict content rules mean the ads
can’t mislead or otherwise exploit the
vulnerabilities of their audience.”
The rules will see an end to adverts
for cosmetic surgery during or around
reality TV shows such as Love Island.
The British Association of Aesthetic
Plastic Surgeons has been calling for a
ban on public advertising of cosmetic
surgery companies since 2012.