The Food and Drink Federation (FDF), along with UK Hospitality and the Advertising Association, has written an open letter to the Prime Minister highlighting its concerns regarding the Government’s public consultation on a total ban of online advertising for unhealthy foods.
The new consultation, which will run for six weeks, will gather views from the public and industry stakeholders to understand the impact and challenges of such a ban, which is intended to help people live healthier lives and tackle childhood obesity.
The open letter is co-signed by a number of the FDF’s members, including Associated British Foods, Mars Wrigley, Britvic, Mondelez, PepsiCo, General Mills, Haribo, pladis, Kellogg’s, Princes, KP Snacks, and Unilever.
An FDF spokesperson said: “While we support the Government’s public health objectives we’re very concerned by the timing of the consultation, in that it is only open until the end of the year, and frankly couldn’t come at a worse time for our industry, given we’re coming up to the busiest time of the year, we’re keeping the nation fed during lockdown and are obviously bracing for a potential no-deal Brexit, which is still on the table. It leaves the industry with little time to collate an effective response.”
