The Faculty of Public Health welcomes the implementation of the Less Healthy Food and Drink Advertising Regulations as a watershed moment for child health. This milestone is long overdue.
The FPH now urges robust monitoring and enforcement to ensure the policy delivers its intended objectives. Concerns remain regarding broad exemptions for brand advertising and the potential for displacement into outdoor advertising, which disproportionately impacts deprived communities and worsens health inequalities.
Professor Tracy Daszkiewicz, President of the Faculty of Public Health, said:
"These regulations are a vital first step in protecting children from pervasive junk food marketing. But to raise the healthiest generation of children, the Government must now close the loopholes. We need the 2018 Nutrient Profiling Model adopted and restrictions extended to outdoor advertising. Children walking to school shouldn't be bombarded with junk food ads at every bus stop. We call on the Government to deliver these changes by the end of this Parliament."
