Mayor’s ban on junk food advertising comes under fire

JUNK food advertising will be banned across all of London’s public transport network next year.

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, made the announcement yesterday as part of his plan to tackle what he called the “ticking time bomb” of childhood obesity in the capital.

Under the new regulations, posters that advertise food and drinks considered to be high in fat, salt and sugar will vanish from the Underground, buses, bus shelters and the capital’s railways.

Such adverts will also be banned from roads controlled by Transport for London, including adverts on roundabouts, as well as at bus stops, in taxis and private hire vehicles, plus Dial-aride and Victoria Coach Station.

The ban will take effect across the TFL network from Feb 25. The decision comes after 82 per cent of 1,500 respondents to an online consultation backed the proposals, City Hall said.

Mr Khan said: “Reducing exposure to junk food advertising has a role to play – not just for children, but parents, families and carers who buy food and prepare meals.”

But it was criticised by the Advertising Association, which told the BBC that “commuters could suffer as a result of the ban”.

Stephen Woodford, the association’s chief executive, said the UK already had “the strictest rules in the world when it comes to advertising high fat, salt, sugar foods”, which mean under16s cannot be targeted.

“This will lose TFL advertising revenue that will potentially have an impact on the fares that passengers have to pay,” he said. The announcement follows a similar ban put in place last year, when Mr Khan ordered that all “bodyshaming” adverts promoting negative body image were to be banned on the TFL network.

His decision came after a Protein World advert asking women if they were “beach body ready” sparked 378 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.