UK junk food ad ban so diluted it may be largely ineffective, experts say | Health policy

The ban on junk food advertising, aimed at tackling childhood obesity, will affect just 1% of the £2.4 billion spent on food and drink advertising each year, and could prove a “paper tiger”, ministers have been told.

The Government has hailed the ban on advertising of foods high in fat, salt and sugar before 9pm on television and entirely online, which came into force on January 5, as a decisive, world-wide measure which will remove 7.2 billion calories from the diets of British children every year.

But the measure has been so delayed, watered down and scaled back due to lobbying from the food industry that it will be “largely ineffective”, according to a study by innovation agency Nesta.

The policy has been weakened by so many gaps and flaws that it will have far less impact than expected, he says.

It estimates that the new advertising regulations only cover £190m, or 8%, of the £2.4bn annual spend. As businesses respond to the TV and internet ban, this is expected to fall to just £20m – just 1% of overall advertising spend.

In particular, food producers will shift much of their advertising spending from pre-watershed TV and online, which are covered by the ban, to advertisers’ outdoor sites and social media accounts, which are not.

Nesta Healthy Living Mission Director John Barber said: “This policy was first announced eight years ago and in that time there have been eight consultations and four delays.

“Partly because of industry pressure, these delays and adjustments mean that restrictions intended to keep us healthy are working at only a fraction of their potential. This policy risks being nothing more than a paper tiger.”

Governments must balance public health requirements with those of businesses, but the much-amended version of the restrictions “seems to heavily favor the latter,” he said.

Nesta said flaws in the ban include that it covers too few unhealthy food types, that ministers agree with the industry’s demand that branded advertising should still be allowed, and that it does not cover outdoor advertising such as billboards.

Exemptions granted by ministers mean foods generally considered unhealthy, such as chocolate spread and caramel-covered nuts, can still be advertised. More than 60% of consumer spending on products high in fat, salt or sugar is not covered by the ban.

Dr Kawther Hashem, nutritionist and head of research and impact at Action on Sugar, said: “It is shocking that after almost a decade of promises, eight consultations, four delays and constant lobbying, the UK can be left with unhealthy food advertising rules that affect just 1% of advertising spend.

“While 1% of total advertising spend is still a substantial amount in absolute terms, it falls far short of the bold action originally promised and needed to truly protect children from the relentless marketing of unhealthy foods. »

Nesta’s findings follow a warning last week from Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, that some industries – including food – have used “very powerful lobbyists” to persuade successive UK governments not to adopt policies that could improve people’s health.

Tactics such as portraying politicians in the media as a “nanny state” help deter ministers from imposing measures that are inexpensive, popular with the public and likely to prove effective, Whitty told the Association of Medical Journalists’ annual conference.

He said this helped explain why “we are so slow” in the UK in improving public health. A newspaper front-page claim that the new approach proposed by ministers is “a nanny state… kills a lot of things we can move forward on”, he said.

Chief executive of food campaign group Bite Back, D’Arcy Williams, said: “Junk food companies are as incredibly adept as they are sinister at finding loopholes. [and] they are moving their marketing to places where the rules do not apply, while young people continue to be surrounded every day by advertisements for unhealthy foods.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are delivering on our commitment to restrict junk food advertising and are already seeing changes – with up to 7.2 billion calories expected to be removed from British children’s diets every year.

“These restrictions are part of a broader set of actions under our 10-year health plan, including limiting volume pricing promotions on less healthy foods and introducing mandatory reporting on healthy food sales.

“We are committed to monitoring the impact of these measures and hope that the industry continues to adapt.”