Fertility clinics use social media ads to target patients with 'concerning' claims

Vulnerable fertility patients are being targeted by adverts on social media that experts warn could be breaching rules by guaranteeing couples a baby or making other misleading claims.

- Sarah Marsh

The Guardian discovered a number of adverts for IVF clinics on Instagram that the Advertising Standards. Authority (ASA) described as concerning and said it was reviewing.

These adverts are directed at users who show an interest in IVF through their online searches.

The ASA, the advertising industry watchdog, has recently written to UK clinics warning them about being transparent regarding success rates. Official figures show that in 2021, average IVF birth rates using fresh embryo transfers were 33% per embryo transferred for patients aged 18-34 and 4% for patients aged 43-50 when using their own eggs.

One advert from the Unica Clinic, a health service based in Prague and Brno, Czech Republic, on Instagram stories read: "We guarantee your IVF success". Unica Clinic did not provide a comment.

The ASA said it regulates foreignbased advertisers if they are directly targeting British consumers.

There is also concern about companies offering other services. A US company that runs an app helping with nutrition for fertility called Gyna also advertises on Instagram stories.