LONDON, January 6. /Dunyo IA/.  The United Kingdom has banned advertising of unhealthy foods on television before 9 p.m. and completely prohibited it online as part of measures to combat the childhood obesity crisis, reports Dunyo IA correspondent, citing “The Guardian”.

From now on, under the rules, which will be enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) 13 categories of products can no longer be advertised on TV before the watershed or at any time online. The banned products are high in fat, sugar and salt.

Companies that violate the new rules may face action from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). These measures were first announced by the Conservative government in 2021 but were postponed twice.

Recent data show that in the UK, one in ten preschool children (9.2%) suffers from obesity, and one in five children develops tooth decay by age five. The government estimates that the advertising ban could prevent around 20,000 cases of childhood obesity. Obesity currently costs the National Health Service (NHS) over £11 billion annually.

“Children are highly susceptible to aggressive advertising of unhealthy foods, and exposure to such advertising increases the risk of obesity and related chronic diseases”, - Katherine Brown, Professor of Behaviour Change in Health in the Department of Psychology, Sport and Geography, School of Health, Medicine & Life Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire.  

Although the rules only come into effect now, the UK advertising industry has voluntarily complied since October. This made for the first-ever low-fat, low-sugar and low-salt Christmas TV ad campaigns, as products such as puddings and sweet treats were replaced by fruit and vegetables.