Less healthy food and drink advertising restrictions: where are we now?

The Advertising (Less Healthy Food and Drink) (Brand Advertising Exemption) Regulations 2025, effective from 31 Oct, exempt brand ads from UK-wide restrictions on less healthy food ads. CAP is reviewing feedback from its latest consultation.

What are the restrictions?

As discussed previously, the advertising of “identifiable” LHF products on television, on demand and in paid for ads online will be restricted from 5 January 2026 (although many advertisers and broadcasters have committed to complying with the restrictions from 1 October 2025).

Is the ad for an “identifiable” LHF?

An LHF product is “identifiable” if “persons in the UK (or any part of the UK) could reasonably be expected to be able to identify the advertisements as being for that product”.

This will ultimately be decided by the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) applying the “identifiability test”. Details of the application of this test are included in the latest version of CAP’s proposed implementation guidance (“the Draft Guidance”).

In short, the ASA will assess whether the average consumer would identify an ad as being for an LHF product, and not the advertiser’s intention. The Draft Guidance states an ad is likely to meet the “identifiability test” if, for example, a specific LHF product is clearly and prominently referenced in the ad. This could be by way of text, an audio reference, or an image (i.e. of an LHF product’s packaging, or of the LHF product, where that product has a distinctive shape, or mark).

Recap: what about brand advertising?

What was less clear (until recently) was whether brand advertising, which did not identify an LHF product, would be restricted. As explained in this Explanatory Memorandum, it was never the Government’s intention for such brand advertising to be restricted.

To bring that intention into effect, the Advertising (Less Healthy Food and Drink) (Brand Advertising Exemption) Regulations 2025 (“the Regulations”) were laid before Parliament on 10 September 2025, and are set to come into force on 31 October 2025. Following the laying of these Regulations, CAP published, and issued a consultation on, the Draft Guidance.

Brand ads: what do we know now?

It is now clear that a brand ad is exempt from the restrictions on the advertising of LHF products. A brand advertisement is an ad that promotes a brand, including the brand of a range of products (i.e. a series of products composed of different variants, such as flavours).

As well as setting out what a brand ad is, the Regulations set out what a brand ad is not. In other words, businesses will be unable to rely on the exemption for brand ads if their advertising does any of the following:

• depicts a specific LHF 

Importantly, “depict” means to represent by way of name, text, imagery, logo, audio cue, jingle, brand character or other (combination of) branding technique(s), whereas “specific” means a food or drink product capable of being purchased, and which is differentiated from other purchasable products.

In other words, if an ad includes an image of a specific LHF, it will not be exempt. The same is true of any ad including imagery representative of a specific LHF product (i.e. a brand character which is a personification of an LHF product).

Generic product imagery (i.e. an abstract representation of a type of a product) is likely to be exempt provided it is sufficiently distinct from any specific LHF products supplied by the advertiser, as is generic product related imagery such as packaging common to multiple products, provided no further information pointing to a specific LHF product is included in the ad.

The key for advertisers is to ensure that any combination of branding techniques used in an ad do not, when taken together, identify an LHF product.

• promotes a brand the name of which is also the name of a specific LHF product

A brand name which is the same as the full name of a specific LHF product will not be exempt from the restrictions. The name of a range which is identical to a specific LHF is unlikely to be exempt.

However, the exemption will apply to brand ads which name a specific LHF product, if the full name of that product is (included in) the name of a company or entity, and that company or entity was established before 16 July 2025. Ads for brands which name a specific LHF are permitted if the named product is also the name of a range, provided that name was used prior to 16 July 2025.

• includes a realistic image which is visually indistinguishable from a specific LHF. 

The exemption will not apply to an ad which includes a realistic image (i.e. a photo, video, etc) of a food or drink product (and not only the packaging), where that product is visually indistinguishable from a specific LHF product.

Therefore, if an ad includes an image of an unpackaged product from a range containing both LHF and non-LHF products, the ad should make clear that the depicted product is non-LHF, if the products would otherwise be indistinguishable.

What should advertisers do now?

If they haven’t already, food businesses with 250 or more employees should identify which of their food and drink products are LHF products, and ensure they are ready to comply with the upcoming restrictions (if they are not already voluntarily complying).

Advertisers should also:

• only feature non-LHF products, or brand advertising, in ads appearing on television, on demand, or in paid for online space
• clearly signpost the fact an advertised product is non-LHF if it is otherwise visually indistinguishable from an LHF product, and appearing on TV, on demand or in paid for online space; 
• only advertise LHF products in unrestricted areas i.e. radio, billboards, non-boosted social media posts; and
• train their in-house marketing teams on the upcoming restrictions. 

Lastly, businesses should know which of their products are high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) as the pre-existing restrictions on HFSS product ads will continue to apply.