A ban on junk meals promoting on TV earlier than 9pm and a complete ban on-line has come into power as the federal government makes an attempt to sort out the childhood weight problems disaster.
Beneath the foundations, which can be enforced by the Promoting Requirements Authority (ASA) 13 categories of products can not be marketed on TV earlier than the watershed or at any time on-line. The banned merchandise are excessive in fats, sugar and salt.
Anna Taylor, the manager director of the Meals Basis marketing campaign group, mentioned: “At present marks a giant, world main milestone on the journey to guard kids from being uncovered to the onslaught of junk meals promoting which is presently so dangerous to their well being.”
Though the foundations come into power right now, the UK promoting trade has voluntarily been adhering to them since October to to ensure advertisements are accurately shorn of merchandise 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 merchandise comparable to puddings and candy treats have been changed by fruit and greens.
Beneath the foundations, adverts for gadgets typically perceived as wholesome are restricted, comparable to “sandwiches of any form”, pretzels and “all merchandise predominantly discovered within the breakfast cereal aisle”, which incorporates porridge oats and muesli.
There may be an intensive record of typically incongruous exceptions and caveats. Nonetheless, some merchandise which have been reformulated to fulfill the junk meals nutrient guidelines are nonetheless banned as they’re perceived to contribute to the weight problems problem, comparable to sure ranges of crisps, chips and pizza.
Final yr, well being campaigners have been outraged when the federal government determined to permit firms that make junk meals, comparable to McDonald’s or Cadbury, to run model advertisements so long as they didn’t present an “identifiable” product.
This determination adopted a risk of authorized motion by the meals trade in opposition to the proposed blanket ban. Permitting model advertisements implies that Cadbury might run its drumming gorilla ad, for instance, earlier than the watershed as long as there have been no photographs of chocolate bars.
“Laws permits firms to change from product promoting to model promoting, which is more likely to considerably weaken [the] influence [of the new rules],” mentioned Taylor. “We are able to’t cease right here, we should stay centered on the purpose: banning all types of junk meals promoting to kids.”
Final month, the Meals Basis launched its annual report, which discovered that meals firms had been shifting their advert spend into different media earlier than the TV and on-line ban.
Meals firms’ spend on out of doors media comparable to billboards and poster websites – that are topic to junk meals advert bans provided that they’re positioned inside 100 metres of premises comparable to faculties or leisure centres – rose 28% between 2021 and 2024.
The report discovered that McDonald’s had elevated its out of doors promoting spend by the most important share throughout the three-year interval.
The foundations have been within the pipeline since 2020, when Boris Johnson’s authorities introduced an promoting ban, saying it could come into force in 2023.
