Britain has moved to limit junk food marketing to children, despite loopholes and lobbying. Australia still hasn’t acted.

The UK’s new law to reduce childhood obesity has been hollowed out by aggressive corporate lobbying. But compared to Australia, something is better than nothing.

Whether it’s cricket heroes scoffing down fried chicken, Stranger Things-themed burgers, or creators partying with Pepsi Max, most young Australians will see dozens of ads for junk food on their screens today. If exposure doesn’t come via saturation sponsorship of the NBL or the Big Bash League, then children will be bombarded just about wherever they are online, logged into a social media account or not.

If this sounds like summer as usual, consider the contrast with the UK where this year’s Christmas ad blitz featured Grinch shopping in the fruit and veg section, a mum smiling in gratitude as her daughter adds apples to the shopping basket, and Keira Knightley receiving a home-baked pie in a Love Actually homage.

It is now illegal in Britain to show TV ads for high fat, salt and sugar products between 5.30am and 9pm, or to target children online at any time. Following months of voluntary compliance, brands and broadcasters that breach the new standards now face the risk of hefty penalties of up to £250,000 or 5 per cent of annual turnover. In extreme circumstances, broadcasters that flout the laws could have their license shortened or revoked.

The crackdown comes in response to evidence that more than one in five British children finishing primary school is obese; the rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing rapidly, including amongst children; tooth decay is widespread and the average height of British five-year olds is falling.

If this sounds bad, Australia’s situation could soon be worse. Research by the Murdoch children’s research institute published last year in _The Lancet_ predicts that, unless there is concerted policy action, the proportion of young Australians who are overweight or obese will increase from 36 per cent to 50 per cent by 2050. In that scenario only Chile would be worse off amongst developed economies.

The goal of restricting unhealthy food marketing to Australian children is set out in not one but three national health strategies: the National Diabetes Strategy, the National Preventive Health Strategy, and the National Obesity Strategy. Public consultation has found 78 per cent community support for reigning in junk food advertising. So what are we waiting for?

If the Government had supported Sophie Scamps’ Healthy Kids Advertising Bill, first introduced into the parliament in 2023, we would already have a British-style ban. Instead the response was to launch a ‘feasibility study’. More than two years later this research still has not been released to the public, and it’s not clear when it will be.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing could only say that the “study will provide a better understanding of the options available and will be provided to the Department of Health for consideration soon.” The Australian Government could learn a lot from its British counterpart’s willingness to act on an urgent public health crisis.

That said, the UK law is far from flawless. First announced when Boris Johnson was still the prime minister it has been the subject of multiple delays amidst constant pressure from corporate lobbyists, including threats of legal action. Between July 2024 and June 2025, the food industry met with ministers ten times as often as NGOs.

The relentless pressure worked, with the Starmer Government caving to industry demands to exempt brand advertising from the ban. Ads for junk food will still be permitted just as long as they do not specifically depict the offending product. The exemption even includes brands that are synonymous with the product, like Mars or Coke, and brands for product ranges, like Cadbury Dairy Milk.

It doesn’t take a marketing genius to recognise that this loophole leaves a lot of room to shape children’s eating habits, harness pester power and cultivate lifetime brand loyalty.

In addition, the UK prohibition doesn’t apply to out-of-home advertising. Evidence is already accumulating that marketers are shifting their spend to billboards, buses and trains, with McDonald’s increasing its budget for out-of-home marketing by 71 per cent since the ban was first announced.

It may be that the UK law will “ essentially enable business as usual,” as one critic has claimed, but the initial evidence suggests that this is too pessimistic. Either way, the UK reforms offer Australia a clear warning against potential pitfalls as well as inspiration to act.

When Sophie Scamps reintroduces her bill to ban junk food ads to the Australian parliament this year, as she has signalled she will, our elected representatives will have a chance to show whether they put the interests of children first.