Food brand spending on out-of-home advertising increased by 28% in the wake of the HFSS ad ban announcement, analysis by The Food Foundation has found.
McDonald’s was found to be the “worst offender”, having increased outdoor advertising spend by 71% from 2021 to 2024, after the forthcoming ban on unhealthy food advertising on pre-watershed TV and online was announced in 2020.
Unilever, KFC, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Mars and Mondelez also feature among the biggest spenders on outdoor advertising last year.
Outdoor advertising, including on billboards, buses, bus shelters, at railway stations, shopping outlets and taxis, is exempt from the ban. It was a major blindspot of the legislation, The Food Foundation said, since research showed (excluding digital advertising) outdoor advertising provides the second largest source of children’s exposure to food advertising after television advertising, and accounts for the largest source of HFSS food advertising.
“These findings show how quickly companies change their behaviour when regulation is announced – which is exactly what we want when policies are well designed, but a serious problem when there are gaping loopholes,” said Katharine Jenner, executive director, Obesity Health Alliance.
“Outdoor advertising exploded after the government signalled restrictions on TV and online, with fast food giants simply shifting their spend to unregulated spaces,” Jenner added. “Future marketing policies must learn from this.”
Several local authorities and Transport for London (TfL) have moved to introduce their own policies restricting the advertising of HFSS products.
TfL’s ad ban – which covers the London Underground, rail network, buses, taxis, and TfL-operated outdoor spaces – have prevented almost 100,000 obesity cases and is expected to save the NHS over £200m, according to independent modelling.
Around 14 local authorities have implemented or imminent similar policy. Up to 150 additional local authorities in England are in the planning and consulting stages, according to a Scotland government evidence review last month.
The Advertising Standards Authority advises that advertising of HFSS products should not be aimed at children under the age of 16 and advertisements should not appear where 25% of the audience consists of under-16s. While many advertisers in the UK aim to adhere to this advice by not advertising HFSS products within 100 or 200 metres of schools, but campaigners believe this is not enough.
The Food Foundation also found young people were being heavily targeted by food brands through video game livestreaming platforms, where “marketing is subtle and hard to regulate”.
Product mentions by gamers and on-screen appearances of products or brands, known as ‘food cues’, act as advertising “that is influential but difficult to monitor”. Food and drink advertising was found to be widespread, with 94% of analysed footage containing a cue. Most cues (71%) promoted unhealthy products, the gaming channel dominated by energy drinks, soft drinks, and fast food brands.
Four in 10 cues (39%) featured brands rather than specific products. This puts them outside forthcoming regulations, which permit a brand to advertise without restriction, as long as an HFSS product is not shown.
Almost all cues (98%) lacked any disclosure of paid promotion, “making advertising rules on gaming platforms extremely hard to enforce” the foundation said.
The findings – published today in the foundation’s State of the Nation’s Food Industry report, funded by Impact on Urban Health – prove “we cannot continue to leave progress on healthy and sustainable sales to the market” said Rebecca Tobi, head of food business transformation, The Food Foundation.
“It’s simply not working. Fixing the system so that it better serves both people and planet needs bold and urgent action from businesses but also, crucially, the government, who are ultimately responsible for setting the parameters businesses operate in,” Tobi added.
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