I have started this petition after seeing an influx of sponsored advertisements for cosmetic surgery (including liposuction, BBL, breast augmentation, rhinoplasty) on Facebook and Instagram. These adverts specifically target women with body image concerns, and encourage traveling abroad for surgeries that can cause serious health complications and even death.

In 2019, mother of three Leah Cambridge 29, travelled to Turkey after seeing an advertisement on Instagram for "Brazilian Butt Lift" surgery. This is the most dangerous type of cosmetic surgery and unfortunately Leah did not survive the procedure. She died from a pulmonary embolism after the surgeon accidentally injected fat into her veins. Leah had three heart attacks on the operating table. More recently Carol Keenan, 54, died after flying to Istanbul in Turkey for a tummy tuck and a BBL operation in April 2022. 

Death from BBL is caused by the accidental injection of fat into large veins, which then travels up to the heart, lungs or brain. In some cases, blood clots can travel to lungs or fat could be injected into the wrong sites, causing a risk of fat necrosis.

Other cosmetic procedures also carry risks. This year on April 1st, Shannon Bowe, 28, died during gastric band surgery, which she also travelled to Turkey for. The procedure involves a band being placed around the stomach to make a patient feel full quicker.

If Meta is an organisation that cares about the safety of its users, they will stop allowing adverts for these procedures.

Not only do they carry serious heath risks, but being subject to consistent encouragement to modify one's body is incredibly harmful to mental health and wellbeing. Leah Cambridge, had previously expressed being "paranoid about her body." Meta claims to be active in preventing harmful material that encourages negative body image on their site, however it is clear advertisements that encourage paying to be incredibly skinny and modifying natural features do the opposite.

These advertisements contribute to objectification of women and misogyny too. The standard seen in these adverts is to have a flat but toned stomach, large breasts, large buttocks, and a small nose. These are impossible beauty standards that cause young women and teenage girls intense stress in trying to meet. This body standard is shown everywhere in the media, and adding to this by allowing ads for surgery to force your body into the socially accepted standard is incredibly harmful and actively contributes to the sexualisation and objectification of women's bodies. These ads also target specific body insecurities such as post-natal body insecurities. Adverts for "Mummy Makeovers" have appeared on my news feeds several times. This "makeover" is actually a serious of surgeries including tummy tuck and liposuction to remove fat gained during pregnancy that is essential to support development. Women's bodies were designed for pregnancy and it is normal to gain extra weight but these ads portray it as negative and a problem that needs fixing which is highly offensive to mothers.

The undersigned are calling on Meta to change its advertising policy to prevent cosmetic surgery from being advertised on any of it's platforms, in the name of harm prevention.