Government consults on wording of LHF brand advertising exemption

What’s the background? 

In May, the Government confirmed that it would implement secondary legislation to explicitly exempt brand ads from the LHF ad ban within the law. In order to give enough time for the secondary legislation to pass, it also announced that the ban will now legally come into effect on 5 January 2026, but we and other industry trade bodies are calling for on our members to abide by the voluntary commitment to not show LHF product-based advertising from 1 October 2025 - the previous implementation date for the ban. 

The Government has now launched a consultation to gather views on wording of the draft regulations for brand advertising to ensure the text is clear and achieves the intended policy aim – allowing genuine brand advertising while maintaining restrictions on specific LHF product advertising. 

What’s being proposed? 

Under the draft regulations, brand ads – including ads promoting a brand or product range – would be exempt from the LHF restrictions, provided they do not feature or closely resemble a specific less healthy food or drink product. 

The proposed changes outline a two-step process: 

1. Identifiability test – if an ad is not considered to be for an identifiable LHF product, it should not be subject to restrictions 

2. Brand advertisement definition – if the regulator (the ASA) determines that an ad could reasonably be identified as for a LHF product, it will then consider whether it meets the new definition of a “brand advertisement”. Ads that fit this definition and do not depict a specific LHF product will be exempt 

The draft regulations aim to make clear that the exemption is only concerned with the ‘content’ of the ad, so contextual factors (e.g. the perception of the brand) will not form part of the assessment of whether an ad is in scope of the restrictions.  

They also provide definitions for the meaning of ‘depict’, ‘range of products’, ‘specific’ and ‘photographic image’ to ensure that the exemption allows for genuine brand advertising, while keeping the restrictions on LHF product advertising intact. 

The consultation is focused solely on the clarity of the drafting of these regulations. It is not about the wider policy intent of the LHF product restrictions, nor will these views be considered.  

It also notes the voluntary agreement that industry has made to comply with the LHF product ad restrictions from 1 October 2025. It welcomes this commitment and says that the government has agreed to take this action on brand advertising because of this commitment.

Next steps 

• The consultation closes on Wednesday 6 August 2025, with the Government aiming to lay the regulations in Parliament as soon as possible 

• The IAB will respond on behalf of members and will hold a call with our Policy Community next week to discuss the draft wording DCMS is encouraging as many businesses as possible to submit their own responses – even short confirmations that the draft wording works – to ensure the regulations are fit for purpose from all market perspectives. To this end, we’re asking any of our member who are impacted by the ban to feedback on the consultation – please get in touch with [email protected] if you would like support or have any questions