Why the HFSS promotions ban was never going to work

It’s easy to carp from the sidelines when well-intentioned folk try to effect important change – but the HFSS promotions ban was never going to work.

The scope was both too narrow (to reduce obesity) and too vague (to be practicable). And as much as the authors of a new report insist the two million reduction in HFSS product sales is statistically significant, it’s a drop in the ocean. In one supermarket chain there were no discernible reductions at all. So the fact that the delayed ban on bogofs will be introduced in October – when health secretary Wes Streeting has already said he’s going to scrap it and start again – adds insult to injury. Talk about rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. It will cost millions more, with supermarkets expected to pick up the tab. And they cannot just tell the government to bogof because while enforcement has been non-existent, the risk in reputation and fines is too great.

It’s true the supermarkets could be doing more to promote healthy eating (as opposed to flogging more alcohol or personal care items) instead of simply complying as best they could with the letter of the law. But that’s what happens when crude rules are drawn up. And the report also charts the chaos of the previous government’s woeful leadership and lawmaking, as rules were drawn up with zero understanding of the complexities of food retailing, and the government went into full-on ostrich mode under the welter of questions and queries – leaving tape-measure-wielding supermarkets to interpret the wishy-washy guidance as best they could.

In the meantime, as Streeting goes back to the drawing board with plans for mandatory health reporting and targets, and the report authors planning to bend his ear as Defra seeks to assimilate health into its complementary food strategy, further poorly conceived legislation is in the works for this October (or January) to ban HFSS advertising. It seems the same mistakes are being made all over again.