Child watching TV. Credit: Pixabay
Sustain and the OHA have successfully called for stronger TV and online advertising restrictions for unhealthy foods and drinks after raising concerns in last year's consultation
Child watching TV. Credit: Pixabay
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has announced that they are revising their proposals for the TV and online advertising restrictions. This follows the consultation which Sustain and the Obesity Health Alliance fed into at the start of 2024.
The policy is set to come into force in October 2025 and aims to restrict unhealthy food and drink advertising before 9pm on TV and at all times online. However, Sustain and the Obesity Health Alliance raised concerns about the Advertising Standards Authority's interpretation of the policy and their proposals for intervention which included several loopholes and areas of confusion. Sustain and patners submitted several pieces of evidence to demonstrate the need for stronger policy.
In response, this week, the Advertising Standards Authority has announced that the consultation process has "caused us to rethink and potentially revise aspects of the guidance we consulted on". In their statement, they set out the likely areas that will be revised including:
Fran Bernhardt, Sustain's Commercial Determinants Coordinator said:
The Government has set a fantastic ambition to prioritise all our children's health by switching the spotlight away from unhealthy food on TV and online. But the ASA's original proposals didn't do that justice. So we're delighted to see the ASA listening to our concerns and making the much-needed changes to ensure that healthier food plays a starring role in all our children's minds.
However the ASA has taken eleven months to respond to the original 8-week consultation set in December 2023. This delay is frankly not good enough. It's particularly disappointing since this policy is due to be implemented in October this year, and has already been delayed by three years. Delaying is a classic tobbaco playbook tactic and we expect better from the organisation the Government has entrusted to regulate advertising.
We call for the ASA to prioritise children's health over industry profits. They must quickly deliver the stronger proposals so that from October, our children can at long last benefit from these well-evidenced policies.
Katharine Jenner, Director of the Obesity Health Alliance said:
This government has strongly committed to protecting children from junk food advertising, and we need to see this policy come in as planned in October 2025. Food and drink companies are prepared for this legislation, and we commend the ASA for proposing to revise its guidelines to better align with public health.
However it is deeply frustrating that the ASA has decided to put us all – industry, public and health charities alike – through yet another round of unnecessary consultation, especially when this one closed back in February 2024. The law clearly states that ‘if persons in the United Kingdom (or any part of the United Kingdom) could reasonably be expected to be able to identify the advertisements as being for that less healthy product,’ then such adverts must not appear on television before 9pm or on paid online media at any time.
We strongly urge the ASA to expedite this process, prioritising the 22% of children living with excess weight—children who are on a path toward poor health in the future—over the interests of food and drink companies profiting from pushing unhealthy products on our children.
Background
In September 2024, the Government recommitted to the timeline to restrict unhealthy food advertising from TV and online, which was welcomed after delays since it was first proposed in 2020 for implementation in 2022. There have been multiple consultations on the policy in the intervening years. In October 2024, the House of Lords inquiry on Food, Diet and Obesity urged the government to restrict unhealthy food and drink advertising across all advertising sites including outdoor by 2026.
Commercial Determinants: We believe our health and the health of our planet must be prioritised ahead of companies’ profits. We’re taking a stand with policymakers by bringing in regulations that incentivise industry to higher standards.
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