Agenda item - Fast Food & Energy Drink Advertising: Officer Response to Notice of Motion

Report of the Executive Director, Adult Health and Social Care (copy attached)  

RESOLVED - That the Board recommend to the Policy& Resources Committee that a decision be taken to implement restrictions to the advertisement of high fat salt and sugar (HFSS) food and drinks on council owned and managed advertising space, this includes advertisement on the transport/bus system and other hoardings.

25.1    The Board considered a report of the Executive Director, Health and Adult Social Care setting out the Officer response to the Notice of Motion referred from Council in respect of Fast Food and Energy Drink Advertising and further work which had been carried out in response to that, this report was the officer response to that. The Board were requested to recommend to the Policy and Resources Committee that a decision be taken to implement restrictions to the advertisement of high fat salt and sugar (HFSS) food and drinks on council owned and managed advertising space, this includes advertisement on the transport / bus system and other hoardings.

25.2    It was explained that this was considered important as currently one on three children were leaving primary school overweight or obese, one in two in some schools. Two thirds of adults were overweight or obese which could lead to diabetes, cancers heart disease and covid outcomes and had worsened as a result of lockdowns and the cost of living crisis. Advertising high fat, salt and sugar foods (HFSS)was linked to purchase and weight gain. The 7 April 20022 Full Council Notice of Motion had requested officers obtained data about fast food and energy drink advertising on council properties and this provided that data. The current provider, Clear Chanel, had confirmed that 34% of its advertising content was for HFSS.     

25.3    Data had been obtained from London, Bristol, Barnsley and several London boroughs including Merton and Haringey. Evidence collected had indicated that advertising changes equated to 5 million purchases in 1,970 households and had resulted in a significant reduction in HFSS, the greatest reduction being in confectionary and cake purchases. Health and economic benefits shown from modelling had included a reduction in obesity, heart disease and diabetes. The amount of revenue obtained had not reduced when TFL had introduced restrictions to HFSS adverts and across other areas there had been no reports of financial issues arising as a result of healthier food advertising implementation.   

25.4    In total there were 478 council owned bus shelters with 223 advertising shelters managed by Clear Channel with advertising space on hoardings at five sites leased by the estates team. The draft policy was set out in Appendix 1 to the report and had been informed by the collaborative work which had taken place to date. This aligned with the council’s existing priorities including the health and wellbeing strategy, the declaration of a climate and biodiversity emergency 2018 and the Brighton and Hove food strategy, as the first gold sustainable food city in the UK.  Those living in “deprived” areas appeared to be more susceptible to such advertising, however established brands could be advertised differently with a focus on their less HFSS products and example where McDonald’s had advertised in such a way was cited.   

25.6    The Chair, Councillor Shanks, thanked officers for their presentation stating that rather than “banning” certain types of advertiser by displaying photographs of products they offered which were not HFSS they were still able to advertise.        

25.7    Councillor Robins referred to the fact that “deprived areas” were considered to be more susceptible, it must be more complex citing the fact that if they had little people could be attracted to eat foods which were more appealing to them and which they were able to afford. Whilst recognising that this was certainly part of the answer he was interested to know what other work was being undertaken. In response it was explained that officers were very keen to undertake work with other partners across the city in order to fully explore the multitude of ways in which this issue could be addressed not least, by seeking to ensure that good affordable food was available to all.

25.7    Councillor Appich considered that Councillor Robins had made an interesting point. In the past school dinners had not been healthy but were much more nutritious now and it was therefore important to encourage take up of those particularly by those who could were entitled to free school meals as that could provide an essential mainstay to a healthy diet. Notwithstanding the sizeable budget gaps which had been identified, you could not put a price on health and this represented a very important piece of work. Interestingly, the approach taken by TfL seemed to indicate that such an approach could be taken without compromising the revenue obtainable from advertising.

25.8    Councillor Brown noted that implementation of this  approach in London had shown a reduction in obesity and heart disease for example, asking whether any additional information was available to support this. It was explained that this was being looked into further and it was intended to provide as much additional information as possible with any report to the Policy and Resources Committee.     

25.9    The Chair, Councillor Shanks, stated that she understood that this item report needed to be forwarded to the Policy and Resources Committee for final approval in order to enable potential financial implications to be fully explored.    

25.10  RESOLVED - That the Board recommend to the Policy & Resources Committee that a decision be taken to implement restrictions to the advertisement of high fat salt and sugar (HFSS) food and drinks on council owned and managed advertising space, this includes advertisement on the transport/bus system and other hoardings.