Influencers and Ads for Medicines, Supplements and Alcohol: Who Is Responsible – the Creator, the Agency or the Brand?

Legal status as of 15 September 2026. Translated by the Blogger Bank editorial team from the Polish original.

First, the ad must be transparent. Then we check whether it is allowed at all

Influencer marketing often reduces legal issues to the question: "how do I label the collaboration?". That matters, but with regulated products it is far from enough.

You can label material perfectly as an ad and at the same time break the law through the content of the message itself. An example? A public ad for a prescription medicine. Labelling it with the #ad hashtag will not make it allowed. The same applies when a supplement is presented as a product that cures a disease, or when an ad for a medical device uses a person presented as a doctor.

That is why before a campaign it is worth asking two separate questions: does the audience know this is an ad, and may this product be advertised to this audience in this way.

Medicines: not every product from a pharmacy may be advertised publicly

The Pharmaceutical Law sets out detailed rules for advertising medicinal products. Among other things, ads for prescription-only medicines may not be addressed to the public. Even for medicines that may be advertised to consumers, the message is subject to special restrictions on content and form.

What is especially important for an influencer is that an ad for a medicinal product addressed to the public may not rely on a recommendation by a publicly known person or a person with medical or pharmaceutical education, or suggesting such education. This means that the format that is natural for influencer marketing – a personal recommendation – may be legally unacceptable.

So a medicine campaign should not start with a creative idea, with a lawyer asked only afterwards whether it can be "adjusted". First you need to check the product category and the permitted advertising model.

Dietary supplements: you can talk about health, but not freely

A dietary supplement is food, not a medicine. This is the basic fact that should determine the language of the ad. GIS states plainly that supplements do not cure and may not be advertised as products that cure diseases.

Health and nutrition claims are regulated at EU level. So it is not enough that a claim "sounds plausible" or that the brand has an internal study. You need to check whether the claim is authorised and whether the conditions of its use are met.

Indirect messages are risky too: graphic suggestions, "before and after" stories, statements about symptoms or putting the product next to a diagnosis. The law assesses the whole message, not just one sentence prepared by the marketing department.

Medical devices: an influencer can step straight into the device advertising regime

The Medical Devices Act expressly covers, among other things, opinions about devices addressed to the public by their users if they receive benefits for it. That is very close to the classic model of working with an influencer.

An ad addressed to the public must be understandable to a layperson. It may not use the image of people practising medical professions or people claiming to be such, nor present the presenter in a way that suggests practising a medical profession. It also may not concern devices intended for use by users other than laypersons.

In addition, there are requirements on the content of the ad and on warnings. In practice, a social media creative must be planned so that the mandatory information is actually visible and legible, not hidden in a caption that most of the audience will never reach.

Alcohol: social media are not a separate legal zone

Polish law as a rule prohibits the advertising and promotion of alcoholic beverages, with a special exception for beer if certain conditions are met. The bans also apply to people taking part in running the advertising as the commissioning party or the contractor, regardless of the form of presentation.

This matters for influencers, because a post on Instagram or TikTok can still be public advertising or promotion. It is not enough to limit the campaign to adults and assume the matter is solved. You need to check the specific product, the content, the targeting and the nature of the publication.

In this category the consequences may go beyond typical administrative or civil liability. That is why alcohol campaigns should not be run on intuition or on the "others do it too" practice.

Who is responsible when the claim came ready-made from the brand?

The influencer's most common reaction is: "it was in the brief". The agency replies: "the client approved it". The brand: "but the creator said it in their own words". From a risk management point of view, such a chain is a signal that nobody agreed responsibility before the campaign.

The specific liability depends on the rules that apply to the product and on the actual role of each party. In some regimes the law expressly names the party responsible for the ad's compliance, in others what matters is who uses the market practice or takes part in running the advertising.

That is why the contract should set out who provides and approves the claims, who does the legal check, what the influencer may not add on their own and what to do when the creator has doubts. A bare clause "the influencer complies with the law" is too general to replace a proper process.

The biggest risk comes with spontaneous "authenticity"

The brand provides a safe message: "the product contains ingredient X, which contributes to the normal functioning of Y". While recording, the influencer says: "for me it cured the problem in two weeks". The material sounds more natural and convincing – but it may be exactly what goes beyond the permitted limits.

That is why in regulated industries the brief should contain not only the claims to use, but also examples of prohibited or risky wording. The creator can still speak in their own language, but should know where creativity ends and a claim the brand may not legally use begins.

In health campaigns it is especially useful to review the script before recording, not the finished reel. Changing one sentence at the text stage takes a few minutes. Re-recording the whole material costs much more.

The best model: a legal brief short enough that someone reads it

The legal department can prepare a five-page list of prohibitions, but if the influencer gets it together with twenty other attachments, the effect will be weak. Good campaign compliance should be useful for the creative team.

A simple layout works: what may be said, what may not be said, what information must appear in the material, how to label the ad and who approves the final version. For more complex products, a short consultation before production is added.

The more regulated the industry, the less it pays to use a random brief template from the previous campaign. In projects like these, specialist analysis before publication is part of the marketing process, not a "brake" on creativity.

About the author

Natalia Łukawska – attorney (adwokat), founder of Influ na Legalu. She advises influencers, marketing agencies and brands on contracts, advertising, copyright and running influencer marketing campaigns, including in regulated industries and the beauty sector.

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