The rules, which came into force at the beginning of 2026, ban ads for identifiable so-called “less healthy” food products from appearing on TV or on-demand services between 5.30am and 9pm, or in paid online media at any time.
Downing Street said the restrictions are designed to reduce children’s exposure to ads for less healthy food products.
In its role as the advertising watchdog, the ASA administers and enforces these restrictions across the UK media landscape.
In its latest round of rulings, the regulator upheld a complaint against south London chicken shop chain Morley’s, which ran a paid-for Instagram ad promoting two meal deals featuring burgers, wings, nuggets, fries and drinks.
Because the ad identified multiple specific products that were classified as less healthy, it was found to have broken the rules.
The ASA also upheld a complaint against US confectionery giant Mars Wrigley, which released a paid-for Instagram ad for M&M’s featuring two cartoon-style characters, one round and green and the other oval and yellow.
Because the oval yellow character depicted a specific less healthy product (Peanut M&M’s), rather than just the brand, the ad was also found to have broken the rules.
Conversely, complaints were also made by members of the public concerning ads from Domino’s, Papa John’s and Uber Eats, but these were rejected by the regulator, which found that the three brands had not breached the rules.
Guy Parker, chief executive of the ASA, said: “Our job is to apply the new LHF rules, which mirror the law, accurately, fairly and consistently. Today’s rulings provide clarity on how the ‘brand exemption’ aspect of the rules applies in practice.
“They also show that less healthy products can be hard to spot. Some specific products that people understandably assume are less healthy, are not in fact classified as less healthy under the Government’s Nutrient Profile Model.”
He continued: “That might sometimes be because food businesses have reformulated them to bring them below the less healthy threshold.
“It’s worth mentioning that Government has been clear that it wants the restrictions to incentivise food businesses to do exactly that: reformulate their products so they are no longer classified as less healthy.”
