A ban on junk food advertising on TV before 9pm and a total ban online has come into force as the government attempts to tackle the childhood obesity crisis.
Under the rules, which will be enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) 13 categories of products can no longer be advertised on TV before the watershed or at any time online. The banned products are high in fat, sugar and salt.
Anna Taylor, the executive director of the Food Foundation campaign group, said: “Today marks a big, world leading milestone on the journey to protect children from being exposed to the onslaught of junk food advertising which is currently so harmful to their health.”
Although the rules come into force today, the UK advertising industry has voluntarily been adhering to them since October to to make sure ads are correctly shorn of products that breach the government’s complex regulations.
This made for the first-ever low-fat, low-sugar and low-salt Christmas TV ad campaigns, as products such as puddings and sweet treats were replaced by fruit and vegetables.
Under the rules, adverts for items often perceived as healthy are restricted, such as “sandwiches of any kind”, pretzels and “all products predominantly found in the breakfast cereal aisle”, which includes porridge oats and muesli.
There is an extensive list of often incongruous exceptions and caveats. However, some products that have been reformulated to meet the junk food nutrient rules are still banned as they are perceived to contribute to the obesity issue, such as certain ranges of crisps, chips and pizza.
Last year, health campaigners were outraged when the government decided to allow companies that make junk food, such as McDonald’s or Cadbury, to run brand ads as long as they did not show an “identifiable” product.
This decision followed a threat of legal action by the food industry against the proposed blanket ban. Allowing brand ads means that Cadbury could run its drumming gorilla ad, for example, before the watershed so long as there were no images of chocolate bars.
“Legislation permits companies to switch from product advertising to brand advertising, which is likely to significantly weaken [the] impact [of the new rules],” said Taylor. “We can’t stop here, we must remain focused on the goal: banning all forms of junk food advertising to children.”
Last month, the Food Foundation released its annual report, which found that food companies had been shifting their ad spend into other media before the TV and online ban.
Food companies’ spend on outdoor media such as billboards and poster sites – which are subject to junk food ad bans only if they are located within 100 metres of premises such as schools or leisure centres – rose 28% between 2021 and 2024.
The report found that McDonald’s had increased its outdoor advertising spend by the biggest percentage across the three-year period.
The rules have been in the pipeline since 2020, when Boris Johnson’s government announced an advertising ban, saying it would come into force in 2023.
