New laws brought in this month mean some foods cannot be shown before 9pm
Lidl GB’s chief, Ryan McDonnell, has expressed concerns over the “a lot of uncertainty” surrounding this year’s Christmas advertisements due to new restrictions on product displays. The new rules stipulate that pre-9pm watershed TV adverts cannot feature products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS), which are also completely banned from paid-for online advertising.
Originally set to be enforced from October 1, these restrictions have been voluntarily adopted by the industry from the same date, as the government postponed their implementation until next year. This means a range of products typically featured in supermarket Christmas ads will be absent from prime-time TV slots, with companies’ own websites and social channels potentially being some of the few places they can be displayed online, the Grocer reported.
However, how these rules will be applied remains uncertain, according to McDonnell. Speaking to The Grocer, he said: “It would be an understatement to tell you that we’re obviously learning very quickly, and there’s a lot of uncertainty around what the rules of play are, and that’s across traditional media and social”
He added: “There’s no doubt we’ve had to engineer our ads differently and be a lot more conservative, because there are so many products and categories that fall under HFSS regulation. So, it’s going to be interesting.
“Obviously, with Christmas upon us and retailers increasing their media spend, we’re going to have to see how the market plays out. There will be some interesting learnings.”
Last year’s Christmas Advert dates
- Lidl: November 3, 2024
- Marks & Spencer: November 4 last year
- Aldi: November 4 last year
- ASDA: November 4 last year
- Waitrose: November 5 and November 26 last year
- Boots: November 6 last year
- Tesco: November 12 last year
- John Lewis: November 14 last year
Baked goods including crumpets, scones, croissants, pains au chocolat, pancakes, and waffles are all considered junk food for the purposes of the law. Cakes including muffins, flapjacks, and mini rolls will be banned, but icing and cake decorations are exempt, as is savoury bread and traditional loaves.
The restrictions also apply to sugary breakfast cereals including granola, muesli and “porridge oats, including instant porridge and other hot oat-based cereals”, while snacks including protein bars, cereal bars, and biscuits will also be included in the ban.
Food and drink adverts will be banned if the products are classified as “less healthy” using a Government scoring system based on salt, fat, sugar, and protein content.
In practice, it leaves room for healthy versions of products to continue to be advertised, such as porridge oats, but not those such as porridge products that have had sugar, salt, or fat added to them.
Similarly, natural unsweetened yoghurt will not be subjected to the ban, but fruity and low-fat yoghurt, or fromage frais will.
Listed alongside obviously unhealthy soft drinks including lemonades, colas, and energy drinks are others that have added sugar including certain fruit juices and smoothies, milk-based drinks and milk substitute drinks such as soya, almond, oat, hemp, hazelnut or rice. It will also apply to chickpea or lentil-based crisps, fried, flavoured or seasoned chickpeas, seaweed-based snacks and Bombay mix.
The ban came into force from October this year, after which time television ads for junk food products will be allowed only after 9pm.
It will also include a ban on paid-for online ads for these products to reduce children’s exposure to foods high in fat, sugar or salt. The Government has said it will prevent an estimated 20,000 cases of childhood obesity, and is expected to remove 7.2 billion calories a year from UK children’s diets.
Its impact assessment notes that “overall the studies do find a clear link between food advertising and calorie consumption”.