Timing of government’s public consultation about online advertising questioned.

A new consultation has been launched on proposals to ban online adverts for foods high in fat, sugar and salt in the UK to tackle the obesity crisis and get the nation fit and healthy.

The government say that research shows children are exposed to over 15 billion adverts for products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) online every year, with further evidence showing that exposure to HFSS advertising can affect what children eat and when they eat, both in the short term by increasing the amount of food children eat immediately after being exposed to an advert, and by shaping longer-term food preferences from a young age.

The new consultation (which can be found at www.gov.uk) aims to gather views from the public and industry stakeholders to understand the impact and challenges of introducing a total ban on the advertising of these products online, to help people live healthier lives and tackle childhood obesity (the closing date for views is 22 December 2020).

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I am determined to help parents, children and families in the UK make healthier choices about what they eat.

“We know as children spend more time online, parents want to be reassured they are not being exposed to adverts promoting unhealthy foods, which can affect eating habits for life.

“This will be a world-leading measure to tackle the obesity challenges we face now but it will also address a problem that will only become more prominent in the future.”

Public Health Minister Jo Churchill added: “It’s vital we build on the worldleading obesity measures announced in July to ensure our efforts to tackle childhood obesity have the greatest impact. We have already committed to restricting HFSS adverts on television before 9pm. But we also need to go further and address how children can be influenced online, where they are spending more and more of their time. This is part of a package of measures to help families. We want to support people of all ages to make healthier choices.”

Further advertising restrictions are widely supported by the public, claim the government, with polling from 2019 showing that 72% of public support a 9pm watershed on junk food adverts during popular family TV shows and that 70% support a 9pm watershed online.

Obesity is one of the biggest health crises the country faces, say the government with almost two-thirds (63%) of adults in England being overweight or living with obesity – and one in three children leaving primary school overweight or obese, and with obesity-related illnesses costing the NHS £6 billion a year.

The urgency of tackling obesity has been brought to the fore by evidence of the link to an increased risk from COVID19, they add. Living with excess weight puts people at greater risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, with risk growing substantially as body mass index (BMI) increases (nearly 8% of critically ill patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units have been morbidly obese, compared with 2.9% of the general population, said the government in their 10 November statement to announce the consultation). The consultation was announced as a measure as part of the government’s tackling obseirty strategy which was announced in July.

A total ban on online HFSS adverts would, say the government, futureproof how we tackle childhood obesity (children’s media habits are changing, and they are spending more time online. Five to 15 year-olds now spend 20 minutes more online each day than watching TV and there has been a 450% increase in spend on online food and drink advertising from 2010 to 2017), as well as help to tackle a lack of transparency (there is no independent public data to reliably monitor the extent to which children are exposed to HFSS adverts online, and the lack of transparency from online platforms means there is limited material with which to reassure government that our children are adequately protected online from HFSS advertising).

However, in a letter to the prime minister, Cadbury owner, Mondelez, Haribo and Unilever pointed out that in recent times they have been playing a vital role in feeding the nation during the Covid-19 situation, and are therefore shocked by consultation’s timing, as well as the plan to introduce advertising restrictions by the close of 2022. The letter also went on say that the proposed ban would lead to unintended consequences due to the potentially widespread nature of products it would affect.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, banned ‘junk food’ advertising on the Transport for London network from early 2019, and many food manufacturers themselves have had the added pressure of dealing with the effects of Covid outbreaks at their premises in recent months. If that was not enough, many food businesses are also in the midst of preparing for a no-deal Brexit.