

Thus, curbing online advertising of unhealthy foods is critical to reduce adverse impact of noncommunicable diseases. The food industry has been rewriting the rules for reaching people in the Internet age and through sharing functions, the consumers effectively acting as marketers. Digital marketing, including for unhealthy foods, has achieved greater ad attention and brand awareness, resulting in higher product sales. People across the UK access digital media avidly, predominantly on mobile devices and laptops, preferring social media and video streaming sites. This need is made even more urgent by the pandemic, considering evidence that those who are overweight or living with obesity are at greater risk of being seriously ill from COVID-19.

In realising the right to health for children, one of the core recommendations of the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity is to reduce exposure to all such marketing. There is unequivocal evidence that obesity is influenced by marketing of unhealthy foods – foods that are high in saturated fats, salt, and sugars (HFSS). This proposal also set out liability and enforcement considerations, where this would remain with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and propose that advertisers are liable for compliance and those who commit repeated or severe breaches relating to HFSS marketing would face stronger penalties that include civil sanctions. This proposal set out concern over the lack of transparency due to the absence of independent and publicly available data on online audiences, as well as concerns over continued inadvertent breaches of unhealthy food rules. Today, around 63% of adults are above a healthy weight and 1 in 3 children leaving primary school are already overweight or living with obesity.
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The United Nations Human Rights Council also asserts that “the same human rights that people have offline must be protected online”.Ĭurrently in its consultation phase, the proposal is part of the tackling obesity strategy launched by the Prime Minister. Everyone has the right to health under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), whilst children are further protected under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which imposes a duty on governments to act in the best interests of the child. If passed, this would be a world-leading protective public health measure to improve everyone’s health and wellbeing and to reduce their risk of developing noncommunicable diseases. On 10 November 2020, the UK Government set out its plan to implement a total restriction on online advertising of unhealthy food products.
