The Department of Health and Social Care has launched a consultation on its proposed changes to the upcoming ban on advertising for less healthy food or drink products, making it clear that ‘brand advertising’ will be exempt. 

We have commented on these proposed changes previously here. They stem from concerns that, as originally drafted, the Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024 applied to advertisements for brands which did not identify a specific less healthy product. Earlier this year, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention confirmed that ‘pure brand advertising’ was not intended to be within the scope of the policy, and that a consultation would be launched on a statutory instrument which would explicitly exempt brand advertising from the Regulations. 

That consultation has now been published. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the central focus of the consultation is on the proposed definition of ‘brand advertising’. As drafted, ‘brand advertisement’ means “an advertisement that promotes a brand, including the brand of a range of products”. However, the definition does not include advertisements which depict a specific less healthy food or drink product, or show a photographic image of a food or drink product that is visually indistinguishable from a specific less healthy food or drink product. Equally, advertisements that promote the name of a specific less healthy food or drink product will not be exempt under the proposed rules unless the product’s name is, or forms part of, the producer’s company name. 

In addition to the proposed definition of ‘brand advertising’, the consultation asks respondents if they agree with other definitions within the draft regulations, and whether more broadly it is clear how the exemption for brand advertising will apply. 

The consultation closes on 6 August 2025 and can be read in full here.