For Americans, the idea of watching live television without the constant barrage of commercials for prescription medications and junk food might seem foreign. That’s now the norm in the United Kingdom.
Starting on Monday, a ban has gone into effect in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland that prohibits advertisements for foods high in fat, salt, and sugar on TV before 9 p.m. and at any time online. It’s an attempt by the U.K. government to tackle childhood obesity. In 2022, 15% of children between the ages of 2 and 15 were obese, according to figures from the National Health Service.
What constitutes a banned product is a bit complex to decipher, as the rules cover 13 wide-ranging categories of food. Some products included in the advertising ban are obvious—soda, candy, potato chips, and desserts, for example—while others may be a bit surprising, like breakfast cereals, various types of yogurts, and ready-made meals like stuffed ravioli.
“WELL OVERDUE”
The U.K. has long banned TV ads for prescription drugs, and this latest advertising ban dates back to 2020, during the era of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. However, it didn’t receive much traction under his successor.
In 2023, now-Prime Minister Keir Starmer campaigned on reforming the National Health Service and promised to put a ban on junk food advertising into effect if he was elected, saying it was “well overdue.”
That sentiment was echoed more recently by Katherine Brown, a professor of behavior change in health at the University of Hertfordshire, who told the BBC on Monday that the ban was “long overdue and a move in the right direction.”
COMPLYING WITH THE BAN
But food companies are already finding creative ways to comply with the ban, while still advertising.
These companies can advertise healthier versions of banned products or they can continue to advertise online and on television, so long as they don’t show an “identifiable” product. This latter concession was one the U.K. government made following threats of legal action by the food industry against the blanket ban.
“Legislation permits companies to switch from product advertising to brand advertising, which is likely to significantly weaken [the] impact [of the new rules],” Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, a nonprofit focused on the U.K. food system, told The Guardian.
What’s more, companies are switching up how they advertise, opting instead for outdoor campaigns on billboards and on public transportation. Outdoor advertising is the second-largest source of exposure to food advertising for children, according to the 2025 annual report from The Food Foundation, and food companies increased their advertising spend by 28% between 2021 and 2024 in anticipation of the TV and online ban.
MORE TO BE DONE
While the U.K. government has estimated that the advertising ban could prevent about 20,000 cases of childhood obesity, there’s more work to be done, according to healthcare advocates.
Brown called on the government to make nutritious options “more affordable, accessible, and appealing,” while Taylor said the ban marked a milestone on a bigger journey to protect children.
“We can’t stop here; we must remain focused on the goal: banning all forms of junk food advertising to children,” Taylor told The Guardian.
