New HFSS advertising restrictions could reshape how brands plan food and drink campaigns in the UK, especially if they rely on paid digital, TV and video to drive short-term sales. The biggest shift is simple: identifiable “less healthy” products are now heavily restricted on TV pre-9pm and in paid-for online advertising.
What is HFSS?
‘HFSS’ (High in Fat, Sugar or Salt) is essentially shorthand for ‘less healthy food or drink’ as defined in law. A product is treated as ‘less healthy’ using a two-stage test:
- It falls within one of the specified product categories in scope (set out in the regulations), and
- It meets the threshold score under the UK Nutrient Profiling Model (2004/05 NPM, using 2011 technical guidance) – 4+ for food or 1+ for drink.
The important nuance for advertisers: the restrictions apply when a less healthy product is identifiable in the ad – i.e. viewers can reasonably tell you’re advertising that product.
When did it come into effect?
The HFSS advertising restrictions came into force across the UK on 5th January 2026, meaning ads for those identifiable less healthy products are restricted online at all times and on TV/Ofcom-regulated on-demand services between 5.30am and 9pm.
HFSS impact on media channels
Online
Online is where most food and drink brands will feel the change first, because the HFSS rules mean you can’t run paid digital ads that clearly feature, name or otherwise make a restricted product recognisable and it applies all day, every day, rather than being tied to a specific time slot as it is on TV.
For most advertisers, paid advertising captures the bread-and-butter activity that typically drives reach and performance. That includes paid social campaigns on platforms like Meta and TikTok, as well as programmatic display and online video placements. It also covers paid search activity, including shopping ads and product-led PPC formats, where the ad unit is explicitly promoting a restricted product. Influencer marketing is in scope too when it’s paid, whether that’s a straightforward paid post, a paid partnership tag or content that’s boosted with paid media, because the restriction is about the advertising placement, not just the channel. More broadly, any paid digital placement served to UK users needs to be treated as in-scope if it results in an identifiable HFSS product being advertised online.
Two practical implications:
- Product-led performance campaigns get harder: If a big part of your marketing relies on “shop now” ads for HFSS products, you’ll need other ways to drive sales.
- Brand advertising becomes more important: Brand-led advertising will matter more now, because it could be the safest way to stay visible. There is an exemption for ‘brand advertising’, but it doesn’t mean you can do anything as long as you leave the product out. If your brand is strongly linked to less healthy products, even small details in your ad, like a familiar pack colour, a well-known product shape or a phrase people associate with a specific item could still make that product feel obvious. That’s why it’s worth treating brand campaigns with the same care as product campaigns and checking the ASA’s guidance on what counts as a brand ad and what could tip it into identifiable product territory.
TV and On-Demand (daypart restrictions)
The TV rules are clearer to plan around:
- Broadcast TV: a 9pm watershed restriction, described in guidance as a prohibition on ads for identifiable less healthy products between 5.30am and 9pm.
- On-Demand Programme Services (ODPS) regulated by Ofcom are included in the TV watershed framework.
This means that if your plan currently uses daytime TV or family viewing to drive sales, you’ll need to shift either the message, the daypart (post-9pm) or the channel mix.
Radio and audio
Here’s the opportunity space many food brands are leaning into.
The government’s restrictions are framed around TV watershed and paid-for online advertising, and there are currently recognised exemptions for audio-only formats, meaning radio and pure audio podcast advertising may remain viable routes, even for HFSS-impacted brands (subject to creative and other codes).
Some podcasting platforms, like Acast, are not impacted by the HFSS restrictions in the same way as other audio formats.
This is important because, as a recent Acast global podcast listener report revealed, 42 per cent of the UK listen to podcasts weekly and 55 per cent of UK parents listen weekly. The report also points to strong response signals with 76 per cent of listeners taking action after hearing podcast ads and 63 per cent trusting the hosts they listen to. So, if your pre-9pm TV plan is being squeezed, audio can help you keep building reach throughout the day, without forcing you into a post-9pm-only strategy.
Print is not the primary target of these new TV/online rules, so it remains a practical channel for brand storytelling, business comms, seasonal messaging and longer-copy credentials. That said, print still sits within wider advertising codes (misleading claims, targeting etc.), so treat it as a strategic complement rather than a loophole.
Out-of-home (OOH)
Nationally, the new HFSS ad rules are mainly aimed at TV and paid online advertising, not outdoor advertising. OOH operates under clear CAP Code rules and does not rely on behavioural targeting, cookies or personal data. It is a public, transparent medium, viewed by regulators as lower risk in terms of exposure control. But if you’re booking OOH on transport networks, it’s worth noting that some transport operators have their own stricter rules on HFSS ads, regardless of the national legislation.
Transport for London (TfL), for example, has its own advertising policy, plus specific food and non-alcoholic drink advertising guidance, and it explicitly references HFSS queries and an exception application process for brands that believe their product may be considered HFSS.
There’s also evidence this type of policy can shift outcomes: an NIHR summary of one study showed that after TfL restricted HFSS advertising, weekly household purchases of energy from HFSS products were almost 7 per cent lower than predicted without the ban, with relative reductions also observed across fat, saturated fat and sugar.
England vs Scotland: what’s different?
The advertising restrictions described above apply across the UK – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – as set out in UK guidance.
Where advertisers can get caught out is the broader HFSS policy landscape:
- England already has separate promotion and placement rules under England-specific regulations.
- Scotland is also moving forward with its own “less healthy food” regulatory approach for promotion/placement, with reporting indicating measures taking effect from 1st October 2026.
Scottish public health stakeholders have framed the UK-wide advertising restrictions as a positive step, while also arguing it doesn’t solve everything on its own.
What this means for a UK-wide advertiser: you can build one core compliance approach for the TV/online ad rules, but you may need market-by-market nuance for retail activation and any Scotland-specific requirements as those rules land.
What should advertisers do now?
Start by gaining clarity on what you’re advertising. Go through your product range and work out which items fall into the ‘less healthy’ HFSS category, so everyone is speaking the same language internally.
Some campaigns are clearly product-led; they show the pack, name the product, highlight a price, push a deal or feature an ‘add to basket’ style message. Others are more brand-led, focusing on the bigger story: what the brand stands for, where it’s made, quality cues or range messaging.
Then there are retailer-led or activation campaigns, where the risk can creep in quickly. In these cases, while you might not think you’re doing a product ad – a pack shot, a product name on a banner or a promotional mechanic can make a restricted product recognisable.
Once you’ve labelled your campaigns in this way, it becomes much easier to brief agencies and creators consistently (and spot problems before you’ve sunk time into creative that won’t clear.)
Next, look at your channel mix and rebuild it around what still works well under the rules. For many brands, that means being more deliberate about where product advertising can live and where it can’t.
TV and on-demand video can still play a role, but product-led ads need to sit in the post-9pm window. Audio often becomes more valuable here, because radio and podcast audio can help you stay present through the day without relying on restricted online product ads. OOH can also remain a strong option, but you’ll want to sense-check the policies of the media owner or estate early, particularly on transport networks. Meanwhile, digital doesn’t disappear, it just shifts. Brand-safe online activity that stays within the rules tends to lean towards brand-led storytelling rather than pushing specific HFSS products.
At the same time, it’s worth becoming more structured with your creative, because the quickest way to waste time and money is having to redo work late in the process when, for example, someone realises the ad makes a restricted product identifiable.
Podcast audio can be a smart route, but the “extras” around it often count as digital advertising. Social clips, creator video, paid amplification, online video placements and anything pushed through paid social or paid digital can fall straight back into the online restrictions. All this means you can’t assume that because the audio read is fine, the supporting digital content will be.
Advertise smarter with MEERKATworks
HFSS doesn’t mean ‘stop advertising!’ The shift for food and drinks brands is about understanding where your product fits within the HFSS scope, adapting what you lead your advertising with, where you say it, and thinking through and finalising your plan early so compliance doesn’t become a last-minute scramble.
If you want MEERKATworks to sense-check your current media plan or map out channel alternatives, we can help you build a successful HFSS-ready strategy. Get in touch with the team today.
Note: This article is a practical planning guide, not legal advice. Always refer to official guidance and your legal/compliance teams for formal interpretation.