Research by the BMJ found that advertising firms and lobby groups were targeting council policies to restrict out-of-home junk food adverts.
Freedom of information responses from 52 councils in England found that advertising companies and their representatives were warning local government bodies their advertising revenues would plummet if they restricted the promotion of HFSS products.
These ‘warnings’ have led to some local authorities shelving their plans despite the potential benefits to public health.
Delayed bans
Even when councils push ahead with bans despite industry lobbying are facing delays as long as eight years to enforce them, due to their existing contracts with the advertising firms.
What’s more, some advertisers have managed to circumvent the bans by moving their ads to privately owned spaces such as shops, bus companies or taxi firms.
Fran Bernhardt of Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, said she had seen “a range of lobbying tactics deployed, aimed at scaremongering, delaying, weakening or attempting to block policies from being approved.”
Industry trade body Outsmart said that out-of-home advertising was the most regulated of its type and that it was open to constructive discussion on the topic. It also claimed that advertising can help curb junk food fuelled diets.
“A whole-systems approach, including positive public health campaigns where advertisers can play a role, would be more effective in tackling this vital issue,” said an Outsmart spokesman.
Childhood obesity
However, some of the local authorities lobbied included Liverpool City, Tower Hamlets in East London, and Luton Borough in Bedfordshire, areas where more than 40% of 10 and 11-year-olds were overweight or obese.
Childhood obesity rates in the UK are projected to increase by 50% by 2050. Experts are urging the government to bring in a national ban on out-of-home junk food adverts in line with the incoming 9pm TV watershed and restrictions for online adverts from October.
Emma Boyland, professor of food marketing and child health at the University of Liverpool, said the lobbying unveiled in The BMJ’s investigation “matters because [advertising companies] are a powerful voice.
“Where industries that are affected by the restrictions have a seat at the table in implementing and developing the restrictions, there’s plenty of evidence that the restrictions then end up being much weaker or being delayed.”
Meanwhile, marketing of food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar needs to be strictly regulated by the government to prevent businesses from exploiting the system to advertise unhealthy foods, claimed a panel of health and nutrition experts.
