Brand-only ads excluded from restrictions on advertising "less healthy" food and drink products

The question

Do the new restrictions on advertising "less healthy" food and drink products apply to brand-only advertising?

The key takeaway

Ads that promote a brand without featuring identifiable "less healthy" food and drink (LHF) products are expected to fall outside the scope of the upcoming restrictions, as confirmed by recent Government statements. A new Statutory Instrument will clarify these exclusions ahead of the revised implementation date of 6 January 2026.

The background

As reported in the Spring 2025 edition of Snapshots, CAP published revised guidance concerning new restrictions on the advertising of LHF products. LHF products are a subset of the products categorised as high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) and the revised rules, which were due to come into effect from October 2025 (but have recently been delayed so as to come into force on 6 January 2026), will see qualifying ads prohibited from airing on Ofcom regulated TV services and on-demand programme services between the hours of 5:30am and 9:00pm, and banned from paid-for space in online media at any time.

The CAP guidance centred on the incorporation of an “identifiability test” for qualifying ads which provides that ads will be subject to the new restrictions provided that “persons in the United Kingdom (or any part of the United Kingdom) could reasonably be expected to be able to identify the advertisements as being for that [less healthy] product [or products]”. In other words, the fact that an ad uses only generic references or ranges of products would no longer be enough to avoid the restrictions.

The development

In April 2025 the Government confirmed in a statement that: "the government’s view remains that pure brand advertising is not in scope of this policy. This is because the legislation only restricts adverts that could reasonably be considered to be for identifiable less healthy products, and not adverts that could be reasonably understood to be advertising brands".

The statement also said: "For example, brands could promote their non-product attributes, such as corporate social responsibility commitments or customer experience, or advertise the healthier products within their portfolios. We do not expect the perception or association of a corporate brand with less healthy products to automatically bring an advert into scope of the restrictions."

Then, on 22 May 2025, the Government confirmed this intention and that it will introduce a new Statutory Instrument to expressly set out the parameters of the exclusions from the restrictions.  It is expected that this exclusion will mean that ads which don’t feature LHF products (even when a brand name and logo are used) will not be caught by the restrictions, but the detail of the clarification is yet to be confirmed. The Government also confirmed that the new advertising restrictions will be delayed by three months – with a new coming-into-force date of 6 January 2026. Despite this delay, many of the leading advertisers, online platforms and broadcasters have committed to complying with the restrictions as if they were coming into force on 1 October 2025.  

Guy Parker, CEO of the ASA has since written to the chair of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee, acknowledging the intentions of the Government to legislate on the brand advertising point and confirming that – once there is further clarity - CAP will move swiftly to develop and publish rules and supporting guidance accordingly.

Clearly there has been much back and forth on this brand advertising point, which could lead to uncertainty – so the House of Commons published a Research Briefing on 4 July which tracks the developments right up to present day (i.e. we await a draft statutory instrument confirming the scope and exact wording of the proposed brand advertising exclusion).

Why is this important?

The proposed express exclusion for brand-only advertising will provide long-awaited clarity for advertisers navigating the upcoming restrictions on LHF product ads. By confirming that brand-led ads, without identifiable LHF products, fall outside the scope of the restrictions, businesses can maintain brand visibility without falling foul of the new rules and plan campaigns accordingly.

Any practical tips?

Pay close attention to the forthcoming Statutory Instrument and revised CAP guidance which will help ensure that advertising strategies remain compliant and resilient in a shifting regulatory environment. In the meantime, businesses should be gearing up for regulatory readiness as if the restrictions were coming into force on 1 October 2025, in line with the commitments of leading advertisers to do so.