ASA Hot Topic
Food and drink
A big issue
In recent years the subject of food advertising has become something of a political hot potato.
Concerns about the nation’s ever expanding waistline and the regulation of health claims have
brought food ads under close scrutiny.
Protecting children
An increase in childhood obesity has led to some serious navel gazing across society and
prompted government and health professionals to attempt to identify and tackle the root causes.
One factor that has had a sizeable chunk of the blame apportioned to it is advertising.
Concern about childhood obesity has led to a tightening of the rules for advertising of food and
soft drinks; on TV, restrictions were placed specifically on foods high in fat, salt or sugar
(HFSS). The Advertising Codes place significant restrictions on the content of ads and on the
scheduling of television ads. It means that advertisers have to follow strict rules on, for example,
the use of celebrities and promotional offers in ads aimed at children.
Ads for food and soft drinks must not:
• condone or encourage poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle in children
• encourage excessive consumption of food or drink products
• use promotional offers in an irresponsible way
• use ‘high pressure' or ‘hard sell’ techniques
• use licensed characters or celebrities popular with children if ads are targeted directly at preschool or primary school children
• give a misleading impression of the nutritional benefit of products.
On television
As well as rules governing what ads look like there are also rules on where and when ads can
appear. Ads for HFSS foods and drinks can’t appear around programmes that are
commissioned for or are likely to be of particular appeal to children up to 16 years of age. No
HFSS ads can appear on dedicated children's channels.
In non-broadcast and radio ads
The rules for non-broadcast and radio ads apply to all foods except fresh fruit and vegetables
and are applicable to advertising targeted at under 16s. Additionally, there are extra rules, for
example relating to the responsible use of celebrities and licensed characters, which particularly
protect children under 12.
For more information: www.asa.org.uk
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ASA Hot Topic: Food and drink
What makes a food HFSS?
Foods are categorised using the Food Standards Agency’s Nutrient Profiling Scheme, which
allocates points on the nutritional content of 100g of the food or drink. Points are gained or
deducted depending on the levels of proteins and vitamins relative to the levels of sugar, salt or
fat.
How do you decide if a programme appeals to children?
As well as programmes that have been made specifically for children, broadcasters must also
judge whether a programme has particular appeal to under 16s. They calculate this by
assessing the audience figures supplied by the Broadcast Audience Research Board (BARB).
To have ‘particular appeal’, the proportion of children watching a programme must be 20%
greater than the proportion of children in society.
Monitoring and compliance work
We don’t just wait to receive complaints. A lot of on-going work has been undertaken to monitor
the effectiveness of the tightened food rules. Since 2007, the ASA has conducted three
proactive monitoring surveys of the food and soft drink sector to gauge compliance rates. Its
latest 2009 survey revealed an overall compliance rate of 99.4%.
The challenges of online and digital marketing
The online world presents new and innovative ways for advertisers to promote their products and
services. But new technology and media platforms can still prompt existing concerns. This is
certainly the case when it comes to food and drink advertising. For instance, there’ve been
debates in the media about advergames (typically electronic games that are used to advertise a
product, brand or an organization) and whether they’re suitable for children. All advergames by
food companies already have to stick to strict rules, and we’ve banned those that promoted
overeating. CAP published new guidance on advergames in 2012 which makes clear that ads
should be obviously identifiable as such, and to date we’ve received very few complaints about
these types of ads.
But with the radical changes in the media landscape we knew that we couldn’t rest on our
laurels. We remain actively engaged in debates around food advertising, and in 2014 we
conducted further work to make sure that the regulation of food and soft drink advertising
continues to be effective and proportionate, particularly when it comes to protecting children
online.
CAP commissioned Family Kids & Youth to provide an independent up-to-date picture of the
impact of online advertising of food and soft drink products on children. The findings of the
Review published in February 2015 shows that the available evidence on advertising’s impact on
children’s dietary choices is limited.
In response to the Review findings, CAP has published interim guidance for marketers and is
advising advertisers to review their online marketing to children.
CAP will also:
 further explore how children understand the commercial intent of online ads with a view to
publishing new guidance in Autumn 2015.
 commit to supporting any new guidance with industry training.
 conduct a monitoring exercise in 2015 to make sure online food and soft drink marketing to
children complies with the strict rules already in place.
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ASA Hot Topic: Food and drink
Health and nutrition claims
It has become increasingly common for advertisers to promote the nutritional benefits of their
food or drink products. While this is a perfectly legitimate aim, advertisers have to be careful to
avoid over-exaggerating or making potentially misleading claims.
The Advertising Codes contain specific rules relating to health and nutrition claims for food and
food supplements. In general, the rules require advertisers to hold documentary evidence to back
up their claims. Specifically, the Codes require advertisers to only make nutrition claims if they
are in line with European Commission regulations. The EC has drawn up a Register of accepted
claims and once fully in force the only health claims in ads which will be acceptable will be
those on the Register.
ASA action
Weetabix Ltd – February 2013
We banned an app because it exploited children’s naivety and vulnerability, and the likelihood
that it would make them feel inferior if they did not eat or encourage their parents to buy
Weetabix.
Swizzles Matlow Ltd – August 2012
Following a complaint from the Children's Food Campaign (Sustain) We banned the ‘Cola
Capers’ online game for irresponsibly encouraging poor nutritional habits and unhealthy lifestyles
in children. The use of popular cartoon character, Scooby Doo, on another section of the
website, was also banned.
Johnson & Johnson Ltd – May 2014
A TV ad for Benecol yoghurt drinks was found to be misleading and had made unauthoirsed
health claims. We told the advertiser to ensure future health claims met the conditions of use
associated with the relevant claim as specified in the EU Register.
PepsiCo International Ltd t/a Naked Juice– January 2014
We upheld complaints about the advertiser’s website claims. We told the advertiser to ensure
that they retained the meaning of, and did not exaggerate, any authorised health claims if they
reworded them to aid consumer understanding.
Contact us
Email: enquiries@asa.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @ASA_UK
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) works to maintain the highest standards
in advertising by taking action to prevent ads from being misleading, harmful or
offensive. Visit www.asa.org.uk for more information about our activities, to view the
advertising Codes or to access our database of adjudications.