They do a similar thing with medication here in South Africa. Or, at least they used to. I haven’t seen many video ads in a very long time.
They can advertise Schedule 0 meds (aisle stuff) with pictures and a generic ad text, coincidentally also describing the type of medication they cannot advertise. The medications marked [S0] normally contain herbal or relatively safe ingredients.
And then they have the Schedule 1 and 2 medications which look comedically similar to their S0 counterparts
I think for schedule 1, I think they can advertise, but it’s OTC. Schedule 1 is stuff like, throat lozenges with benzocaine and other things that could potentially be dangerous, but you can only buy in small quantities.
Schedule 2, They are allowed to say if they have stock and apparently run discount promotions on them, but they cannot openly display images of the products. Stuff like ibuprofen, codeine, antihistamines, pseudoephedrine etc.
Example here:
clicks. co. za/brands/benylin †
Benylin for babies and losers
Benylin for the real deal hatman seekers
† (Sorry about the spaces, I don’t want to accidentally break any community rules nor let those cunts notice Lemmy traffic. Not advertising. Fuck Clicks. Fuck J&J. Cook your own meds in mum’s bathtub)