Raffles on the radio are not uncommon. Stuffed animals, smartphones and now even cosmetic surgery? There seems to be no limit to the creativity of radio stations, or is there?
RTL Radio Center Berlin raffled off cosmetic surgery as part of the "Arno pays for your cosmetic surgery!" campaign. raffled off cosmetic surgery. Listeners were asked to send their application "confidentially and with a photo of your problem area" to a named doctor. If the applicant's name was then mentioned on the radio show at a certain time, the station wanted to pay for the cosmetic surgery.
The Wettbewerbszentrale saw this as a violation of the Heilmittelwerbegesetz (German Drug Advertising Act) and objected to the raffle (Press release from 24.02.2017). The Wettbewerbszentrale had already stopped the raffle for breast operations (Press release from 16.01.2017).
Legal regulation for advertising with cosmetic surgery
The limits of advertising in the field of medicine are regulated in the Therapeutic Products Advertising Act (HWG). For example, it is not permitted to advertise procedures and treatments with prize draws outside of specialist circles. In the opinion of the Wettbewerbszentrale, cosmetic surgery is also covered by this regulation.
The fact that advertising for cosmetic surgery with before and after photos is prohibited has already been confirmed by the Koblenz Higher Regional Court (we reported). Now that the Wettbewerbszentrale has also successfully objected to several raffles for cosmetic surgery, it can be assumed that these also violate the law on the advertising of therapeutic products and are therefore also anti-competitive.
Conclusion
Caution is therefore advised when giving away cosmetic surgery. In addition to a breach of the law on the advertising of therapeutic products, such advertising is also anti-competitive and can be objected to by competitors.
EN 
DE