The UK announces TV ban on junk food ads before 9 pm

14 October 2024

As reported by the BBC, the UK government has announced that starting October 1, 2025, junk food ads will be banned on TV before 9 PM, to protect children’s health. This measure will be accompanied by a total ban on paid online advertisements.

These new rules are intended to protect children from seeing ads for unhealthy food and drinks, increasing childhood obesity and influencing their eating habits from a young age. Over one in five children in England are overweight or obese by the start of primary school, and this increases to more than one third by the time they leave.

The UK government also foresees to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s, as part of a broader effort to improve children’s health.

Simon Dixon, head of policy and public affairs at the Royal Society for Public Health, told the BBC that childhood nutrition is “a long-term priority” and crucial for “building a healthier future for the next generation.”

SAFE welcomes this announcement and calls for EU countries to follow suit.

Currently, minors in the EU are protected from online ads targeting them based on profiling or on their personal data, but this does not yet include TV ads.