Healthier food advertising policies are a no brainer, so why is government still scratching its head?

It’s all about risk isn’t it? Governments weigh them up all the time. Careful not to tip the balance too far in any one direction for fear of the consequences. And that of course makes sense. They must do due diligence, act responsibly and ultimately represent all our interests.

It’s no easy task. What should their limited budgets prioritise? How do they respond to their community’s needs? Do they focus on the short or long term?

Unfortunately, most of the time, something’s gotta give. We sacrifice budget for much needed changes. Or we prioritise financial deals over community need. We propose something with lofty ambitions but it’s not practical to implement. Or not ambitious enough and it doesn’t have the intended impact.

No compromise

So along comes a policy which puts children’s health first without financial sacrifice. We designed the healthier food advertising policy to switch the spotlight away from unhealthy food and drinks and instead set the stage for healthier products. No brand is banned – they simply need to comply with the rules. So companies can still advertise and governments can still receive advertising revenues.

Now as someone who’s had front row seats to government discussions about this policy, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard leaders describe it as a “no-brainer”. Because unlike so many much-needed interventions, it delivers improvements to health without cost. It puts governments in the unusual position of not having to choose. Not having to consider how many of their residents’ wellbeing they should sacrifice. Or weigh up their community’s needs on a shoestring budget. Or turn their backs on local priorities. Because this policy delivers both.

The proof is in the policy

The strength of the evidence is not to be underestimated either. We’re coming up for six years of this policy’s implementation in multiple locations without a drop in revenues. In fact, Transport for London who’ve been most forthcoming with their financial data have shared that their revenues went up by £2.3million in the first year of the policy and have been maintained ever since. You can bet that if this policy were crashing advertising revenues - particularly in the current financial climate - local governments would be reversing them faster than you can say “sorry future generations”.

The evidence for its transformative impact on health is not to be sniffed at either. With an NIHR independently funded evaluation, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and published in PLOS Medicine, an international journal with rigorous editorial and peer review. The research found that the policy led to a significant reduction in unhealthy food purchases – 1000 weekly household calories less. With further independent funding from the NIHR, research by the University of Sheffield revealed this shift in purchasing is expected to lead to 100,000 fewer Londoners living with obesity, 3000 fewer living with diabetes and 2000 fewer living with heart disease, as well as saving London’s NHS £218million. That was similarly published in the rigorous, peer-reviewed International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity [sic].

Now, almost six years since we announced the first policy across the Transport for London network, we’re celebrating supporting the twenty first English local authority to successfully sign off a robust policy. (In fact, we’re moving at such a pace that we supported the 21st policy over the line before we could get our video out celebrating 20 policies!)

What's national government doing?

And yet, in the wake of 6 years’ worth of well-evidenced good news for children’s health, our national government has yet to take any action. Outdoor advertising continues to set the stage for unhealthy food, with young people in more deprived areas exposed to an even bigger spotlight on unhealthy products than their wealthier contemporaries, putting them at higher risk of food related ill health like type 2 diabetes, cancers and tooth decay. Mcdonalds continues to be the biggest spender on all outdoor advertising. They can and do make adverts for healthier products but choose to advertise their unhealthy ones when no one’s holding them to higher standards.

Meanwhile it’s welcome news that this government is finally implementing the much-delayed TV and online advertising restrictions (now expected October 2025 – a delay of 3 years). But as yet, there is still no word about any action on unhealthy food advertising on our streets and transport networks. On a national level, we are still living with the woefully inadequate measures introduced in 2017 that are meant to address child obesity by - wait for it - stopping companies advertising unhealthy food within 100 metres of schools. And no: nurseries, children's centres, leisure centres and other spaces children commonly spend time are not included in that. Sadly, even that eye-rollingly unambitious target seems to be impossible for industry to resist breaching - but who can blame them when there's no penalty for doing so? These inadequate measures have been thoroughly debunked by our report with Food Active as well as the huge momentum from local authorities who recognise that more can and must be done to prioritise our children’s health.

It is thanks to the bravery and determination of the first tranche of local governments working with us to bring these policies in that we are where we are. We have a no-brainer of a policy because we’ve done it. We’ve seen the results. We’ve proven this works. Again and again and again. Those determined local leaders have taken on the risk of going first so future local, national and international governments can implement policies at lower risk.

So if our national government is serious about its commitment to create the healthiest generation of children ever, they must act on this evidence. Fast. They must bring in a comprehensive policy across all outdoor advertising as soon as possible so that all our children, no matter where they live can benefit. To quote so many local leaders: “it’s a no-brainer”.