Junk food TV adverts to be curbed

12 April 2012

Television commercials promoting unhealthy food and drinks will be banned during programmes aimed at children up to the age of 16 in a bid to cut childhood obesity, Ofcom has announced.

The media watchdog said from April this year, advertising for products which were high in fat, salt and sugar, and which would particularly appeal to children, must not be shown in or around programmes for those under the age of 10.

From the beginning of January 2008, a total ban will come into force for advertising junk food during programmes aimed at or which appeal to under-16s.

The restrictions apply to food and drinks products which are assessed as being high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) by the Food Standards Agency.

The aim of the ban is to reduce children's exposure to the adverts in a bid to stem the rise of childhood obesity.

Children's channels will be allowed a phase-in period for the new regulations, which must be fully implemented by the end of December 2008.

In addition, celebrities and characters - such as cartoon favourites - will be banned from promoting junk foods in advertising to children.

The new content rules, which also include a ban on promotional offers and health claims in HFSS product advertising, come into force immediately for new advertising campaigns, and by July for existing campaigns.

This final determination by Ofcom follows a review of the new rules, which were announced in November last year.

The restrictions were initially going to be aimed at children aged under nine, but Ofcom confirmed the expansion of the proposals to include all under 16s.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in