Ad association questions claims over effect of TfL junk food ad ban

A ban on junk food advertising by Transport for London (TfL) has helped Londoners eat more healthily, claims a new research. However, the Advertising Association (AA) has dismissed the findings, saying it’s gone to “torturous efforts to justify it.”

Research published today (18) from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine claims that the ban has contributed to an approximate 1000 calorie per day decrease in unhealthy purchases in people’s weekly shops, with the biggest effects were seen for chocolate and confectionery with an almost 20 percent decrease in average weekly household purchases.

The researchers compared almost two million weekly grocery purchases of products high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) by households in London and the north of England between June 2018 and December 2019.

Dr Amy Yau, from LSHTM and the study’s lead author, said, “Many governments and local authorities are considering advertising restrictions to reduce consumption of HFSS products as part of obesity prevention strategies.

“However, evidence of the effectiveness of such policies, especially away from broadcast media, is scarce.

“Our study helps to plug that knowledge gap, showing TfL’s policy is a potential destination for decision-makers aiming to reduce diet-related disease more widely.”

TfL’s ban on advertising HFSS products, which began in 2019, encompasses the underground, overground, buses, Docklands Light Railway, taxis and on some roadside advertising sites such as roundabouts and bus stops.

London mayor Sadiq Khan said, “I am pleased to see the positive impact these groundbreaking measures have had, leading to a real reduction in the amount of junk food being purchased.”

AA’s chief exec Stephen Woodford, meanwhile, has raised questions on the claims made in the report saying that they required “some tortuous efforts to justify and was riddled with errors, which remain uncorrected”.

“The TfL ad inventory is no doubt highly effective, but it is only a part of Londoners’ media consumption and certainly way less than TV and online. Common sense, let alone marketing effectiveness expertise, might lead one to question these results more closely.

“The other much more serious anomaly is that obesity rates have rocketed in London and around the UK, presumably due to the impacts of the pandemic on behaviour and activity levels, which is testament to the complex, multifaceted societal issues that drive obesity. Which is where our political leaders in City Hall and Westminster ought to be directing their efforts, in my humble opinion.”

Britain has one of the highest obesity rates in Europe with two in three adults overweight or obese and the NHS spending £6bn a year treating obesity-related ill-health.

In December, the government announced plans to introduce a 9pm watershed on TV and a ban on paid-for advertising online for unhealthy food and drink, plus new restrictions on the promotion of unhealthy food and drink in retail outlets and online.