U.K. Said to Plan Limits on Food Advertising in Obesity Battle

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. is preparing sweeping restrictions on online and TV advertising of unhealthy foods in a bid to tackle the country’s growing obesity problem, people familiar with the matter said.

Measures could include a ban on online advertising of food with high fat, salt and sugar content, a pre-9 p.m. watershed on TV commercials, and restrictions on in-store and online promotions of unhealthy foods, two industry executives with knowledge of the plans said. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The policies would mark a change of tack for Johnson, who’s previously taken a libertarian stance, complaining about “nanny state” interventions in the lives of ordinary people. But the coronavirus pandemic and his own brush with death in April have persuaded him of the need to act on obesity, he told Times Radio last month. On Wednesday, he said the government was devising a strategy to tackle the problem.

“There are significant co-morbidities associated with Covid, and we do need as a country to address obesity and the sad fact that we are, I am afraid, considerably fatter than most other European nations,” he told the House of Commons.

One of the executives said they expect an announcement as early as Monday. He said the industry hopes any final measures introduced, which could take a number of years to be implemented, will be evidence-led and proportionate.

Sugar Tax

The curbs -- which were first reported by the Financial Times -- could also include restricting the sale of certain foods at the end of aisles and at checkouts in grocery stores, according to the executives, who asked not to be named discussing plans that haven’t yet been announced.

The restrictions could potentially capture a wide range of food products beyond confectionery and potato chips, including mayonnaise, ketchup, and high sugar-content drinks. If the measures are implemented it will mean Britain has one of the most restrictive advertising regimes in the world.

Britain has in the past introduced a tax on sugar to try and reduce obesity levels. There are already restrictions on how unhealthy foods are targeted at children. Since 2007, broadcasters cannot advertise products such as confectionery during TV programs that might be watched by children. There are similar restrictions for advertising online, in print and in cinemas.

The advertising industry reacted with dismay at the prospect of increased restrictions, urging the government to reconsider. They said advertising curbs could deepen the business turmoil unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic and questioned the evidence supporting the policy.

Advertisers

“Bans on high fat, sugar and salt advertising would be in direct conflict with its own evidence that such restrictions would have minimal impact on obesity levels,” Stephen Woodford, chief executive of U.K. advertising trade body the Advertising Association, said in an email.

Woodford referred to impact assessments conducted last year about similar restrictions and warned that it would add to the effects of the pandemic on the media, advertising, food and retail sectors, with “thousands of jobs under threat.”

He was backed up by Phil Smith, the director of advertising trade body ISBA, who said advertisers are “deeply concerned” by the report.

“Just as business begins to chart a course back from the severe impacts of Covid-19, such an ill-thought out policy cuts across Treasury efforts to support the sector and risks jobs and livelihoods,” he said.

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