Fresh crackdown on junk food gets green light in post-Covid obesity war – how it will affect you

A FRESH crackdown on junk food has got the green light today – with adverts banned on TV before 9pm.

The Government’s has waged a post-Covid war on obesity, designed to make Britain healthier.

But it will mean you see less adverts for your favourite guilty pleasures, such as sausage rolls, pasties and fish fingers.

Public Health Minister, Jo Churchill, said: “We are committed to improving the health of our children and tackling obesity. The content youngsters see can have an impact on the choices they make and habits they form.

“With children spending more time online it is vital we act to protect them from unhealthy advertising.

“These measures form another key part of our strategy to get the nation fitter and healthier by giving them the chance to make more informed decisions when it comes to food.

“We need to take urgent action to level up health inequalities. This action on advertising will help to wipe billions off the national calorie count and give our children a fair chance of a healthy lifestyle.”

Ads for junk food that have high fat, salt and sugar content will be restricted from April 2023.

Online ads will also be hit with strict rules – such only paid-for advertising allowed on brand’s own blogs, website, app or social media page.

It comes after Boris Johnson blamed his Covid brush with death on being overweight, and vowed to overhaul Britain’s eating habits.

The Department of Health said TV and online restrictions could remove up to 7.2billion calories from kid’s diets per year in the UK.

Over the coming years, this could reduce the number of obese children by more than 20,000.

One in six adults and more than one in three kids aged ten to 11 are overweight – with obesity a large risk factor in fighting the virus.

The number of kids admitted to hospital for obesity and related health conditions has quadrupled in the last yen years.

Commenting on the plans, Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation said: “These plans are a bold and very positive step forward in protecting children from being inundated with junk food advertising.

“Introducing a 9pm TV watershed for junk food adverts and also further restrictions for online advertising is one important part in building a more healthy environment where the healthy option is the easy option.”

And Caroline Cerny, Alliance Lead at Obesity Health Alliance said: “This hugely welcome news shows that the Government is serious about putting our nation’s health first.

“This is a landmark, evidence-based policy, and these new restrictions will stem the flood of adverts on TV and online that entice us towards sugary and high fat foods, making space to advertise healthier foods.”

With children spending more time online it is vital we act to protect them from unhealthy advertising.

Public Health Minister, Jo Churchill

Chris Thomas, senior research fellow at IPPR said: “Today’s announcement is a huge win for the nation’s health and helps make the healthy choice the easy choice.

“Big budget junk food advertisers use pre-watershed ‘family viewing’ slots to push their products on children, and this policy helps level the playing field.”

But critics were left less than happy with the junk food overhaul.

The FDF’s Chief Scientific Officer, Kate Halliwell, said: “We are disappointed that the Government continues to press ahead with headline chasing policies which will undermine existing Government policies, principally the reformulation programmes to reduce calories, sugars, salt and portion sizes.
 
“The proposals would make it difficult to advertise many products that have been carefully reformulated or created in smaller portions in-line with the Government’s own targets; for example, Cadbury would not be able to advertise their 30 per cent reduced sugar Dairy Milk.”

Last month the Queen said, as she opened Parliament: “Measures will be brought forward to support the health and wellbeing of the nation, including to tackle obesity and improve mental health.

“We are also offering greater support through GPs, so that anyone with obesity can get support from their GP and referrals to weight management services.”

The government estimates there were around 2.9 billion child HFSS TV impacts and 11 billion impressions online – defined as an individual seeing a single advert one time – in the UK in 2019.

Obesity is linked to a reduction in life expectancy and is a risk factor for lots of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cancers and mental health issues.

Chris Holmes, Founder of SMASH and former KFC director, said: “The Government has one thing right – we need to change the food environment, but the current strategy has a fatal flaw – the businesses that control the food environment are not engaged in this process, and as a result, strategies like this ban on junk food ads will fail to move the needle.

“There is a place for regulation, but nothing is as powerful as consumer demand in shaping industry trends. We need to use the carrot and the stick to incentivise food brands to make products healthier and put marketing spend behind them, so that they are commercially viable for business. 

We need to shift the narrative away from “ban the bad”, and begin also to “promote the good”.