As weight loss drugs such as Mounjaro in Australia and Ozempic in the US have entered the mainstream, the potential normalisation of unrealistic beauty standards is worrying many experts. In response, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Aphra) has introduced sweeping new guidelines across the billion-dollar non-surgical cosmetic procedures industry, set to take place in September of this year.
The guidelines are cracking down on how these procedures are advertised, particularly to young people. With more Aussies being enticed to the lucrative cosmetic procedures industry, the regulator aims to ‘futureproof’ the system by setting guidelines in place for all registered health practitioners.
Targeted advertising will be banned for those under the age of 18 and a seven-day ‘cooling-off period’ will be required after the initial consultation is undertaken.
The new guidelines come amid discussions about how the body positivity movement has been hijacked by social media and marketers.
Aussies considering and undergoing cosmetic procedures such as anti-wrinkle injections and fillers will have greater protections under Aphra’s new guidelines. Not only from the physical risks that come with these procedures, but also from advertising targeting young people.
Further training or education will be required for many practitioners wanting to expand the scope of their practice into non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
Words that trivialise procedures, such as “perfect,” “simple,” “easy” and “safe,” as well as using emojis on images, will be banned from advertisements touting non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Some of these words can mislead patients to the surgery’s complexity, duration and potential side effects or complications, according to Aphra’s website.
Colloquial or non-clinical terms, such as “boob job,” “tummy tuck,” and “Brazilian butt lift,” without also using the medical term for the surgery, will also be banned.
Encouraging interaction with images in a competitive way, such as promotional material that asks for votes on patients’ surgical outcomes or features such as “guess the size of the implant,” will be banned.
The advertising changes include a focus on higher-risk procedures, requiring advertisements to contain information about the practitioner performing the procedures and strengthening the ban on the use of testimonials from social media influencers.
“This industry relies heavily on having a social media presence, so practitioners have been put on notice that their advertising must comply with the new guidelines when they come into effect later this year,” Ahpra CEO Justin Untersteiner said.
“The guidelines will help better protect patients by aligning standards across professions. These guidelines make sure we’re all working from similar playbooks for the safety of our patients. We’re also raising the bar for anyone advertising these procedures, making it simpler for consumers to make safe and informed decisions,” Medical Board of Australia chair, Dr Susan O’Dwyer said.
Body Positivity In Advertising
The first body positivity-associated ad that comes to mind for many is Dove’s ‘Campaign for Real Beauty,’ launched in 2004. The campaign featured women of different sizes, which in the early noughties was particularly rare in the fashion and beauty industries.
But some experts have reprimanded brands for using the body positivity movement as a simple box to check off in order to appease audiences and create the semblance of positivity, according to the ABC.
Widely used on social media, by celebrities and in the news, the concept of ‘body positivity’ is meant to encompass self-love and acceptance.
It emerged as a social movement in the US in the 1960s. Activists staged a “fat-in” in New York’s Central Park, during which around 500 people protested fatphobia, burning diet books and carrying signs.
By the 1990s, fat liberation movements began to form in other parts of the world. With the rise of social media in the 2000s, the concept of body positivity, which drew on the ideals of the fat liberation movement, began to emerge in hashtags, blogs and magazines.
Platforms like Tumblr and LiveJournal offered a safe space for plus-size writers, models, and commentators to share their experiences of fatphobia.
Since then, celebrities like Adele, Lizzo, Mindy Kaling and Jameela Jamil have spoken out about embracing body positivity.
Fast forward to today, what was once a radical movement has transformed into a marketing tactic fuelling beauty standards that have caused the cosmetic procedures industry to boom.
On 2 June, TikTok banned the #SkinnyTok hashtag linked to weight-loss videos following criticism from policymakers in Europe.
The “SkinnyTok” trend saw videos of emaciated young women promoting extreme diets and posting weight-loss tips. The trend caught the attention of the European Commission and the French digital regulator Arcom.
“[We] have blocked search results for #Skinnytok since it has become linked to unhealthy weight loss content,” TikTok spokesperson Paolo Ganino said in a statement on Monday.
With the return of the controversial Victoria’s Secret Show, are brands regressing and turning back on their commitment to body positivity? Brands certainly have a role to play in shaping culture, and positivity should be put back onto the agenda in a way that’s authentic and impactful.
