What can you say
What are the rules for a med spa free consultation or discount offer?
Free is a promise with fine print, and the FTC cares a great deal about the fine print.
Yes, if the free part is free and the strings show. The FTC's Free guide, 16 CFR 251, makes a free offer deceptive when a condition is hidden. Because a med spa delivers medical procedures, state medical-board advertising and fee-splitting rules also apply. A free consult that is a locked sales funnel is the classic violation.
Under the Guide Concerning Use of the Word Free, 16 CFR Part 251, an offer is only honestly free when the customer pays nothing beyond the regular price of whatever they must buy, and every term, condition, and obligation attached to the free offer is stated clearly and conspicuously at the outset. A med spa consult that is only free if you book treatment must carry that condition with the word free, or it is deceptive under the guide and Section 5 of the FTC Act.
All the terms, conditions and obligations upon which receipt and retention of the Free item are contingent should be set forth clearly and conspicuously at the outset of the offer so as to leave no reasonable probability that the terms of the offer might be misunderstood.
The FTC standard is only the floor. Because a med spa delivers medical procedures under a licensed clinician, the state medical practice act's advertising and payment rules sit on top. Two doctrines matter most: fee-splitting bans stop a licensee from taking a cut for a patient referral, which an affiliate or per-booking deal can quietly become, and the corporate-practice-of-medicine doctrine, alive in states like California, Texas, and New York, limits who may own the medical entity and share its fees. California illustrates it: a healing-arts licensee may not run false or misleading advertising under Business and Professions Code 651, nor pay or accept consideration for referrals under Section 650. Other states reach the same offer through their own board rules, so assume both the FTC free-offer rule and your state board apply to the very same ad.
It is unlawful for any person licensed under this division to disseminate or cause to be disseminated any form of public communication containing a false, fraudulent, misleading, or deceptive statement, claim, or image for the purpose of or likely to induce, directly or indirectly, the rendering of professional services or furnishing of products in connection with the professional practice or business for which he or she is licensed.
The scanner does not sit in on your consult or read your intake forms. It checks one thing here: whether the free offer tells the reader what the free will actually cost them.
Free Botox consultation, today only. Walk out glowing.
The offer reads as no-strings, but the consult is only free if you buy treatment that day, and the deadline manufactures urgency. Undisclosed conditions on a free offer are deceptive under the FTC Free guide.
Undisclosed conditions on a free offer · 16 CFR 251.1(c)
Complimentary consultation, no purchase required. If you choose treatment, pricing is reviewed and agreed before anything is done.
States plainly that nothing is owed for the consult and that any treatment cost is disclosed and consented up front, which is what the Free guide requires.
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Pre-Trip is a rigorous screen, not legal advice. Counsel decides; we help you arrive prepared.