The UK government has postponed a ban on TV and online adverts depicting food & drink products which are high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS).
Previously due to come in on 1 October 2025, the ban will now take UK-wide effect on 5 January 2026. It will prohibit ads for ‘identifiable’ less healthy products from being included in Ofcom-regulated TV services and on-demand programme services between 5:30am and 9:00pm, and from being placed in paid-for space in online media at any time. There are some exemptions to this, included B2B media.
However, some organisations including ITV, Channel 4, the Advertising Association, and the British Retail Consortium have agreed to comply with the restrictions from 1 October 2025.
The delay follows a recent consultation from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which is a co-regulator of the new restrictions alongside Ofcom, on how the regulations would be applied. It said that certain aspects of the previously proposed guidance will require revision, particularly parts relating to brand advertising that does not explicitly refer to or feature products.
A written ministerial statement from health minister Ashley Dalton confirmed that “brand advertising is out of scope of the restrictions and that businesses will still have opportunities to promote their brands, provided that their adverts do not identify a specific less healthy product”.
To this effect, Dalton confirmed that the government intends to make and lay a Statutory Instrument (SI) to explicitly exempt ‘brand advertising’ from the restrictions. This is to help “support economic growth and ensure that industry has confidence to invest in advertising but, at the same time, protect children from advertising of less healthy products”, the minister said.
“To allow time to consult on the draft SI, we will amend the formal date these restrictions come into force to 5 January 2026 instead of 1 October 2025. However, in agreement with the Government, advertisers and broadcasters, with the support of online platforms and publishers, have made a clear and public commitment to comply with the restrictions as though they would still come into force from 1 October 2025,” she added.
This isn’t the first time the HFSS legislation has been delayed – although the previous delays were under the former administration. The advertising ban was originally due to come into force on 1 January 2023 but was postponed by a year and then further postponed to October 2025. Restrictions on the in-store placement of less healthy products came into force as planned on 1 October 2022 though.
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