HSSF ad ban to cost broadcasters more than £200m annually in revenue
In a bid to tackle obesity, the UK government is set to impose a UK-wide pre-9pm ban on TV adverts for foods high in sugar, salt and fat (HSSF) widely referred to as junk foods.
This move is expected to cost broadcasters more than £200m a year in revenue. The ban will affect FMCGs, Dairy companies, and quick service restaurants which produce foods such as pizzas, chocolate, burgers, soft drinks, cakes, sweets, ice cream, biscuits, sweetened juices, crisps, and chips amongst others. Although companies making and selling these products will still be able to run ads online, there will also be new rules on online promotion, according to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
Paid-for ads on sites including Facebook, Google, and sponsored contents on Instagram will also be banned.
Set to take full effect in 2023, the new regulations state that from 2023 HFSS adverts can only be shown on TV from 9pm to 5.30am. According to the government, 79% of respondents taking part in the public consultation supported the idea of a 9pm watershed and 74% agreed with the introduction of further HFSS advertising restrictions online.
Meanwhile, the ad industry is urging the government to reconsider its decision. Director-General, Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), Phil Smith said: “There is no evidence that what ministers are proposing will have any meaningful impact on children’s health. The possibilities of technology have been ignored and industry’s attempts to deliver the desired outcome in a way which would also prevent economic harm to business have been waved away. We will look carefully at the detail, but at a moment which calls for economic recovery and serious, evidence-based policy to improve children’s health, it seems that government has plumped for headlines over meaningful reform.”
According to the government the restrictions could remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets per year in the UK, which it estimates could reduce the number of obese children by more than 20,000. Statistics published by the government suggest there were approximately 2.9 billion child HFSS TV impacts and 11 billion impressions online in the UK in 2019, which it defines as an individual seeing a single advert once.
However, the ban will not apply to audio advertising, such as on podcasts and radio, as well as OOH ads.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.