ADPH Welcomes junk food ad ban

From today, adverts for less healthy food and drinks will be banned on television before 21:00, and online at all times.

The long-awaited ban, which is taking legal effect today after multiple delays, has been supported on a voluntary basis since October 2025. The Government, which has introduced a range of measures aimed at giving children the best start in life, has said that the ban is expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets each year, reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000 and deliver around £2 billion in health benefits over time.

Evidence shows advertising influences what and when children eat, shaping preferences from a young age and increasing the risk of obesity and related illnesses.

Alice Wiseman MBE, ADPH Vice President, has welcomed the ban, saying:

“The vast majority of deaths in this country are caused by preventable illnesses and disease, including many cancers, respiratory, heart and liver disease. These illnesses are often linked to the consumption of harmful products like unhealthy food and drink, but this is not the result of personal choice.

“The reality is that what we eat and drink is heavily influenced by cheap prices and clever marketing campaigns backed by multi-million pound budgets. We simply don’t have the freedom to choose.

“There is no quick fix, but we know from our experience of tackling tobacco harm, that one of the key ways to reduce illness and death caused by harmful products is to introduce tighter restrictions on advertising those products.

“There is of course further to go, but today’s legislation is a significant and welcome step forward in protecting people from industry influence and reducing the number of people living with – and dying from – preventable illness and disease.”

Read more from Alice on the role our environment has in shaping our food habits in a BBC article written by Nick Triggle about the myth of willpower.