Metro mayors eye restrictions to unhealthy food advertising

Nine metro mayors across the UK have announced they are interested in considering healthier food advertising policies across their respective regions and promise to switch the spotlight in future. This follows the success of the interventions which Sustain helped write and implement across Transport for London and almost 20 UK local authority areas.

It's now been over five years since the Mayor of London, with support from Sustain, first brought in the policy across the Transport for London network in 2019. Since then, Sustain has supported an additional eighteen local governments across England to bring in robust policies including: Bristol, Barnsley, Tower Hamlets, Knowsley and Luton.

Mayors include:

• The Mayor of the North East, Kim McGuinness
• The Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker
• The Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin
• The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham
• The Mayor of Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram
• The Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oiver Coppard
• The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, David Skaith
• The Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Dr Nik Johnson

Fran Bernhardt, Sustain's Commercial Determinants Coordinator said:

Healthier food advertising policies are a no-brainer intervention for children's health. With substantial evidence of the health benefits of doing so, more and more local governments are switching the spotlight from unhealthy foods and drinks. Clear and robust policies have been shown to improve health while maintaining advertising revenues, and Sustain has successfully supported the Mayor of London and almost twenty English councils to bring in such policies. We have an excellent set of resources and expertise to help so we look forward to these mayors following good practice to turn their interest into a reality by getting policies in place to set the stage for healthier foods and drinks.

Background:

Evidence from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s evaluation of the Transport for London policy has shown that the restrictions led to a 20% reduction in sugary products, and a 1000 calorie decrease per week per household from unhealthy foods and drinks. Further modelling research from the University of Sheffield has estimated that across London, the restriction will lead to 95,000 fewer cases of obesity, 3000 fewer cases of diabetes and 2000 fewer cases of heart disease and save the NHS £218 million over the lifetime of the current population.

Transport for London also announced that its advertising revenues have been unaffected by the restrictions since implementation in 2019. In the first year of the policy, revenues went up by £2.3 million, and in the second year (2020-21), despite financial losses due to Covid lockdowns at the time, the restrictions enabled the advertising figures to be maintained.

Earlier this month, national government announced that restrictions on unhealthy food advertising on TV and online will come into effect in October 2025. The Government first announced the proposals in 2020, including a total online and 9pm TV watershed as a key part of the government's obesity strategy. These were due to be implemented in January 2023. However, in December 2022 the national Government delayed these to October 2025 - a delay that pushes them back three years after the date they originally committed to. This comes after the Obesity Health Alliance’s research found that 8 out of 10 adults support the Government restricting unhealthy food advertising to children on TV (79%) and online (81%).

If your local authority is interested in introducing a healthier food advertising policy, check out Sustain's toolkit for local authorities, standards setting out what good practice looks like and contact Fran Bernhardt on fran@sustainweb.org for more information.