The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned an ad featuring reality star Gemma Collins that promoted a headset which claimed it could help fight depression, instead of seeking professional treatment.
Created for the Flow Neuroscience AB device, Collins claims in her March 2023 Instagram post that the £400 headset “actually works faster and better than antidepressants,” adding that “it’s like having your own therapist in the comfort of your own home. You’re fully in control of your own treatment.”
The device itself purports to help regulate mood by sending mild electrical impulses to the brain’s frontal cortex, which in turn encourages sufferers to rely on gadgets instead of professional medical advice to treat their depression.
This claim places the ad in direct contravention with the ASA’s ruling that any UK advertising or marketing must not “discourage essential treatment for which medical supervision should be sought”.
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Responding to the ruling, Collins countered that she had clearly signposted the phrase ““consult your GP always without fail”, the ASA however found that this only encouraged a preliminary assessment and not ongoing supervised treatment – which is necessary for diagnosed depression.
In a statement, the watchdog said: “The implication was that people who started to use the device would be able to stop their medication shortly after and without medical supervision.”
“We considered that the ad trivialised the decision to come off antidepressants or not take them at all and encouraged people to take their treatment into their own hands.”
As part of the ASA’s ruling, the ad “not appear again in the form complained of” and that Flow Neuroscience must “ensure their future ads [do] not discourage essential treatment for conditions for which medical supervision should be sought, including depression.”
