BEFORE / AFTER creatives on Facebook. How to pass moderation with such creatives

Today we’ll tell you all the tricks for passing moderation with "before/after" creatives! The strict rules of Facebook advertising activity are known to everyone who has worked with it and to most arbitrageurs who’ve heard of it. The "before/after" approach for creatives in nutra is one of the most effective for categories such as weight loss and adult, and also works well for various diseases in a semi-teaser format.

Indeed, bans and rejected ads for "before/after" creatives among arbitrageurs are probably more common than for all other approaches combined. Let's figure out why exactly Facebook bans "before/after" ads and how to avoid it.

What does Facebook officially prohibit?

Broadly speaking, Facebook doesn’t tolerate "personal attributes" illustrations in "before/after" creatives. This includes anything related to weight, skin condition, teeth, hair, and so on. In addition to touching on the users' "personal attributes", Facebook also rejects creatives with obvious exaggerations of results.

Examples of images in such creatives may include:

1. An image of a body showing "different weight categories" in one picture, an example of such a photo:

Using such a photo as a creative for advertising on Facebook is not suitable, unless it's for testing how quickly you'll get banned. The issue with weight is the most common for many users of this social network, so it reacts harshly to such explicit creatives. Here, you may face bans for both "before/after" and "personal attributes" (and you will).

2. Similar images should also be avoided when advertising various teeth whitening products:

Here, besides the obvious "before/after", body parts are depicted too closely, which moderation will consider as depicting "personal attributes" without analyzing the context. Even a fully white advertisement with such creatives won't be possible to launch properly; it’ll be rejected only for the above violations.

The same applies to other categories of nutra or any other advertising where an obvious, undisguised "before/after" approach is used. However, there are exceptions in the moderation rules.

What kind of "before/after" images are allowed by Facebook's advertising policy?

Officially, rules apply to the promotion of ads with "before" and "after" images only for creatives featuring people.

This means that there are no restrictions on inanimate objects (the animation is still determined at the stage of initial moderation by bots).

The application of this loophole may not be suitable for every nutra category, but it can still be used with the main ones. In theory, with good source materials, it’ll be possible to create a disguised "before/after" creative for any category, so it’s necessary to first understand how to apply it at all.

How to use the rules to promote your creatives in nutra?

When you're planning to create creatives with a "before/after" approach, keep the following rules in mind.

Avoid using images of real people in your creatives. Instead, it's better to imply in a way that only the user understands. You can try depicting:

• Associations. For example, images from cartoons, or vegetables/fruits (which is still quite adventurous but better than showing the corresponding body part);
• Stone statues. These often pass for us when promoting weight loss with a "before/after" approach, we'll show what is meant later;
• Clothing. Even without a person, you can show how the size of clothing has changed from an XXL to an S. Also, when using associations, statues, and other ways to camouflage the creative — you can add tags with sizes to it;
• "Results speak for themselves". For example, after using a "miracle cream" for potency, crowds of women chase after the man. Or vice versa, only after using slimming tea.
• Organs. You can use an "x-ray" and an enlarged version of the organ that was unhealthy — it became healthy after using the product from our offer. For example — the knee, when promoting joint health.
• Rephrase the text, hiding phrases that Facebook will definitely ban you for.
• Instead of a quick result in a day or two, it's better to use 14 days or more;
• Instead of "before" and "after," it's preferable to write "with" and "without." It’ll imply the skin/weight/anything of a person with your product and without it;
• Simply using a split screen without such texts.

Through associations, statues, clothing, and third-party text, we convey to the user the idea of ​​what is being discussed.

Where to get the source materials for disguised creatives?

To create truly unique creatives according to the above rules, you'll need high-quality and interesting sources:

• Pinterest. It generates a large amount of conditionally-free traffic, giving you a great chance to find not only interesting source materials but also ready-made creatives that may not be available in the Facebook ad library.
• TikTok. The globally known social network with countless short interesting (and not so interesting) reels is rich not only in dance videos and memes but also in various source materials and ready-made creatives in video format.
• Instagram. Searching for creatives and source materials here is similar to TikTok, but in addition to searching from the "Explore" section, you can also use profiles of various celebrities, including local ones. Often, they advertise something or share diet results (which is perfect for weight loss campaigns).
• Search engines. There are many stock image search engines with both paid and free images.

Examples of "before/after" banners that pass Facebook moderation well

Let's provide a few examples for weight loss, adult, and joint health.

Examples for weight loss, using statues and size tags. Clear enough for users, not quite for moderators.

We use a frame from a cartoon and association for the adult creative, which is also clearly understood by the user.

Here, against the background of a doctor examining a patient's knee, there is an illustration with a bone, damaged on one side and completely intact on the other. Green and blue colors additionally mark where everything is fine. Add a product bottle/text, additional elements, and the joint creative is ready.

Conclusion

Promoting with a "before/after" approach has always been possible, and it still is. Methods change, the difficulties in creating creatives increase, however, if you systematize the search for the necessary source materials, define rules during creation, and conduct more testing, you can run campaigns with any approach, even one considered as inappropriate by Facebook.