North East young people calling on ministers to reconsider junk food advertising ban delay
Youth campaigners from Bite Back are calling on the Government not to give into pressure from industry lobbying and to reconsider the delay
Following the announcement that ministers are set to delay the junk food advertising ban, youth campaigners from Bite Back believe junk food companies have succeeded in lobbying the Government, and feel let down.
The initial plans, set to come in October 2025, were a ban on junk food advertisements online, or on TV before 9 pm, to protect children from being targeted by junk food.
Youth campaigner, Luke, 19, from the North East, believes the government should be going further and faster to help protect the health of a generation.
He said: “Big food continues to lobby those in power to delay these crucial rules, which were set to protect the health of me and my peers. Why does the Government keep listening to those with a vested interest in damaging the health of a generation, rather than going further and faster to protect us from junk food marketing?”
18-year-old Molly, a Bite Back youth campaigner from London, who has been fighting for a change to the food system her whole childhood, said: "If the Government won't get real about the massive imbalance of power when it comes to junk food and children and young people, then what chance to we have? I was 14 when Bite Back started asking for the obvious - an end to the constant bombardment of junk food ads on TV and online. It never occurred to me that no change would happen in time for my childhood. I hope they'll do something brave in time to impact my little sister. This is a disappointing day."
Bite Back Interim CEO, Nicki Whiteman, says we’ve protected people in the past from the flood of tobacco advertising — now it’s time to do the same for junk food.
She said: “Our children’s health depends on this government acting decisively. Without robust new rules, junk food companies will continue to beam their products directly into our children’s minds, while parents’ wishes are ignored and our children's health is shunned. We completely stopped tobacco advertising years ago as part of a wider range of actions to protect people - and it worked. We had faith in the promises of this Government and hoped they would be the first to stand up to lobbying from industry, today’s news suggests they’ve caved.”
Bite Back has long campaigned for the removal of high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) advertising from online, TV, and public spaces, citing its direct link to health-related illness. Right now, over a third of 10/11-year-olds leave primary school at risk of food-related ill health in their future, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease, in part due to a constant exposure to unhealthy food marketing.
This announcement by the Government arrives just weeks after Bite Back, backed by Impact on Urban Health, secured billboards across London to block junk food adverts. The charity placed 365 billboards - one for each day of the year - in high-traffic areas across the capital’s Lambeth and Southwark boroughs, including London Bridge Station, with one clear message: “We’ve bought this ad space so the junk food giants couldn’t – we’re giving kids a commercial break.”
A government spokesperson said: “Obesity robs children of the best start in life and sets them up for a lifetime of health problems, which costs the NHS billions.
“We have secured a unique and public commitment from advertisers and broadcasters so that from 1 October 2025, adverts for identifiable less healthy products will not be shown on TV before 9pm or at any time online, and this will be a legal duty from January 2026.
“The junk food advertising restrictions on TV and online are a crucial part of our Plan for Change to raise the healthiest generation of children ever. By reducing children’s exposure to junk food advertising, we will remove up to 7.2 billion calories from UK children’s diets each year.”