Britain's advertising watchdog has banned adverts from five tanning companies for making misleading and irresponsible claims about sunbed safety. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) acted after finding the ads falsely suggested sunbeds were safe, offered health benefits, or could treat medical conditions — despite UV radiation being the third biggest cause of cancer and the main cause of skin cancer in the UK.
The banned companies include The Sun Company, SunShine Co, Tanbox Towcester, Tan & Deliver Home Hire Sunbeds, and Byrokko, a firm selling tanning acceleration products. Their adverts claimed sunbed use is safe or that tanning can be achieved safely, promoted sunbeds for boosting vitamin D and improving mood and energy levels, and suggested sunbeds could treat health conditions such as seasonal affective disorder, psoriasis, and eczema.
The ASA detected the violations through its AI-powered Active Ad Monitoring system. The rulings address growing public health concerns about UV exposure risks, particularly as social media continues to promote and normalize sunbed use.
Health warnings and context
Long-standing advice from the NHS and Cancer Research UK states there is no safe or healthy way to get a tan using UV radiation. Cancer Research UK warns that sunbeds use high-intensity UV radiation which damages DNA in skin cells, leading to skin cancer, including melanoma.
Jess Tye, the ASA's regulatory projects manager, said: «Given the serious dangers of UV exposure, it's vital that ads for sunbeds don't suggest that they're safe or offer health benefits. These rulings demonstrate that information about health in ads must be clear, accurate and responsible. Protecting people from misleading or irresponsible ads is at the heart of our work and we'll take action where ads break the rules by putting people at risk.»
Company response
The Sun Company acknowledged the ruling and stated the specific content referenced has been removed. The company said: «We acknowledge the ASA's ruling in relation to an early social media post made shortly after opening. The specific content referenced in the ruling has been removed, and we have reviewed our advertising practices to ensure full compliance going forward. Customer transparency and regulatory compliance are important to us.»
The ASA has instructed all five advertisers that the banned ads must not appear again and that future advertising must not suggest sunbeds are safe, provide health benefits, or be used to treat medical conditions.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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