Health charities urge government to ban junk food ads before 9pm

The call comes ahead of Johnson’s plans to address obesity in the UK, which has been identified as a major risk factor in those impacted by coronavirus.

The charities believe many previous recommendations aimed at improving the lives of both children and adults living with obesity, such as calorie reduction and taxation of unhealthy foods, have been sidelined.

They also highlight that a government consultation on whether food and drinks that are high in fat, salt or sugar should not be permitted to advertise before 9pm, which closed in June 2019, and is yet to be implemented.

The consultation demonstrated that this policy will: benefit adults as well as children due to reduced exposure and pester power, have a mutual impact for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities, have an increased benefit for the more socially deprived, and encourage reformulation by the food and drink industry so that their products become healthy enough to advertise before 9pm.

Katharine Jenner, campaign director at Action on Sugar and Salt, said: “Marketeers had the opportunity to voluntarily cease unhealthy food and drink advertising during this pandemic, yet they continued to pump out adverts for fast food delivery companies, chocolates, sweets and more. In 2019, for over 80% of the ‘less healthy’ products advertised before 9pm there was a healthier alternative within the same company that could have been promoted instead . The time has now passed for being soft on industries that ‘feed’ into the obesity crisis and profit from a culture of encouraging lazing, gazing and grazing.”

Barbara Crowther, Children’s Food Campaign coordinator, added: “The government already has many of the necessary ingredients for a new recipe to tackle obesity and build a healthier food environment for our children. However, launching an obesity plan without comprehensive 9pm watershed on TV and online advertising and tightening marketing and promotional regulations, would be like trying to bake bread without yeast or leaven. It would simply fall flat. There has never been a more important time for the government to take the bold, courageous action it has long promised, so that today’s children grow up healthier, happier and more resilient in the fact of any future disease or risk.”