Local boroughs in the UK are taking action to extend the UK-wide ban on junk food ads on TV and online to outdoor media.
On 12 March, St Helens Borough Council announced that cabinet members will consider the implementation of a healthier advertising policy this week. The new policy will require advertisers to replace unhealthy food and drink ads in council-owned spaces with ‘healthier alternatives’.
This is only the most recent example of a local council taking action against the promotion of products high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS). Last month, Swindon Borough Council expanded its existing Healthier Advertising Policy, which it introduced in June 2024, to ban the promotion of HFSS products at bus stops. The initial restrictions only applied to lampposts and roundabouts.
Sustain — an alliance that works with councils to shape healthier advertising policies — reported that a fifth of all London councils had restrictions on ads of HFSS products in January 2024. Fran Bernhardt, commercial determinants coordinator at Sustain, also told MediaCat that 21 English councils have now introduced these policies and that ‘a further 40% of UK local governments are consulting with [Sustain] to bring in these policies.’
Sustain also worked with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to ban junk food ads across the Transport for London network in 2019, and a later study found that the ban led to a decrease in unhealthy food purchases.
‘Evidence from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s evaluation of the Transport for London policy has shown that the restrictions led to a 20% reduction in sugary products, and a 1000 calorie decrease per week per household from unhealthy foods and drinks,’ Bernhardt explained.
She added that modelling research by the University of Sheffield also estimates that these policies ‘may lead to 95,000 fewer cases of obesity, 3,000 fewer cases of diabetes and 2,000 fewer cases of heart disease’ across London. They could also ‘save the NHS £218 million over the lifetime of the current population.’
But a spokesperson for the Advertising Association (AA) disagrees. ‘Extensive evidence shows that advertising bans will have little effect on reducing childhood obesity,’ they argued. ‘We would encourage mayors and councils to take a holistic, evidence-based approach, for example by investing in positive public health campaigns which have proven successful in promoting healthier, more active lifestyles.
‘Councils considering implementing bans on less healthy food should evaluate the economic implications of such decisions both for local businesses and public transport. By restricting the portfolio of businesses that can advertise on out of home, councils risk reducing the amount of money available to help fund public transport infrastructure and therefore keeping ticket prices low.’
That said, the AA pointed out that ‘many advertisers are reformulating their products’ to comply with the government’s incoming ban. This reformulation could also help them bypass the OOH restrictions imposed by councils.
Hamid Habib, managing director of Arena Media UK, also said that the onus falls on food and beverage brands to ‘behave responsibly with both product and messaging’.
‘Nobody wants a government that is creating a nanny state and is reducing the ability of brands to go out there into the world and talk about themselves,’ he said. ‘But the flipside of that is it is incumbent on brands to behave responsibly and if all brands did that then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’
‘They [brands] should also think creatively about rewarding customers who choose compliant products over HFSS. There is opportunity in the media and advertising space here,’ he added.
Featured image: 1Click / Unsplash
