Advertising and Marketing | UK Regulatory Outlook February 2025

CAP updates on ad restrictions on 'less healthy' food and drink products 

Last year, the government confirmed that it will bring forward advertising restrictions for "less healthy" food and drink products – products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) – and published the secondary legislation together with guidance on the new restrictions. The regulations will come into force from 1 October 2025. (See our Insight for more information.)  

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) published a consultation on the new guidance and on the changes that will need to be made to the advertising codes to reflect the new restrictions. The consultation closed on 7 February 2024. 

In its update on the consultation, published on 13 January 2025, CAP said that the process has led to it potentially reconsidering some aspects of the guidance, particularly on brand advertising, that is, advertising by brands that does not explicitly refer to or feature particular products. 

The proposed guidance suggested that ads featuring branding for a range of entirely "less healthy" products would fall outside the scope of the restrictions if the ads did not depict or reference a specific HFSS product.  

However, the legislation does not make any specific reference to brand advertising. It applies media bans to ads for identifiable HFSS products, which it explains are those ads that consumers could reasonably be expected to identify as being for an HFSS product. This is the test that the revised guidance will likely be amended to reflect so that it is clear that an ad may still be restricted if consumers could reasonably identify it as being for an HFSS product or products, even if the ad does not explicitly refer to or feature such product.  

The guidance will also clarify that it cannot state in the abstract whether ads from particular brands will fall within or outside the scope of the restrictions. Each case will be judged individually. Businesses will, therefore, have to consider carefully the content and placement of their ads in context, including the overall product and service offering. 

Ahead of making these changes to the guidance, CAP has published a further consultation, which is open until 18 March 2025. The final guidance is expected in the spring after collaboration with Ofcom, the Advertising Standards Authority and the secretary of state.

'Top tips' for marketers of age-restricted ads issued by CAP 

Following publication, in December 2024, of the report from the ASA on the online supply pathway of ads for alcohol, gambling and other age-restricted products, CAP has now published its "top tips" for marketers to avoid ads being mistargeted to sites disproportionately popular with children. These include: 

Marketers and other third parties should categorise correctly to signify the age-restricted nature of the ad. 

Marketers and third parties should have an updated blocklist that conducts periodic monitoring of sites disproportionately popular with children. 

The content of sites and channels should be assessed to determine whether they are appropriate destinations for an age-restricted ad. 

Channels and sites should actively monitor their audience profiles to ensure that they categorise themselves as "Made for kids" or similar and have child-directed content or equivalent if data shows that they regularly attract a disproportionate amount of children. 

Advertising committees consult on removal of energy labelling and product fiche information 

Having received no complaints under the current rules in both the CAP and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) codes on including energy labelling and product fiche information (that is, product information sheets), which have been in place since 2011, CAP and BCAP are consulting on removing these rules from the codes. 

The removal would not affect legislative requirements and consumers and businesses would still be able to report concerns to the statutory body, the Office for Product Safety and Standards, which is responsible for the enforcement of the relevant regulations. 

The consultation is open until 4 March 2025.