Warwick Law School News
Warwick Law School News
The latest updates from our department
New Policy Brief on Body Image and Trade Mark Law
The Law School’s Dr Luminita Olteanu has co-authored a new Policy Brief with Professor Ilanah Fhima from UCL Laws.
The Policy Brief titled ‘Body Image and Trade Mark Law: A Policy Proposal’ is the result of the Strategic Brand Signalling Roundtable held on 16 June 2025 at Bentham House, with support from IBIL and Warwick Law School.
The roundtable discussion examined trade marks, advertising, and body image perceptions in the UK.
This policy brief examines commercial messaging embedded in registered trade marks as a source of body image dissatisfaction. It explains why a more consumer-oriented approach should be adopted by the UK Trade Mark.
Registry when assessing the registrability of offensive, deceptive and illegal health and beauty trade marks consisting of harmful and deceptive body messaging. It argues that there is room for a common approach between trade mark law and advertising rules to aspects of this debate.
It recommends alignment of deceptiveness and offensiveness thresholds for beauty and health marks, recognising documented links between commercial beauty messaging and body dissatisfaction. Plus greater scrutiny of health and beauty-related trade mark applications, to prevent social media amplification of unrealistic body image ideals and targeting of adolescent audiences.